


Odd Hero Out

by anibrivity



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Warriors
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Battle, Character Redesigns, Fluff, Gen, Original Universe, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:29:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26457217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anibrivity/pseuds/anibrivity
Summary: Linkle witnesses The Hero Of Time's defeat.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 15





	1. Short Change

**Author's Note:**

> The Hyrule this is set in is original and not related to any other Hyrule in the franchise.

My bubbly, half-sleepy strut out into the adjacent connect of stone that crossed into the main road of my humble home was halted. And _suddenly_ , too.   
When I felt his hand gently clam down over the shoulder of my blue top, I nearly jumped.  
The _only_ thing that was keeping me from falling straight over into the water below our small bridge was his _other_ big hand in my crimson hair, playfully ruffling about in it as if I were a doll.

I didn’t mind though. I never do.  
Besides...I think he probably had a reason this time for stopping me so suddenly, right?  
Wasn’t I...forgetting...something?

“Hey. _Hey_ , sweetie, don’t tell me you’re sleep walkin’ on me now?”

I heard his voice. It registered, I think. But I guess I still couldn’t quite form words yet this early in the morning. “...H-Huh? U-Uh…”

  
His words were stern, yet soft. Perfectly complimenting the boldness of his tone. “ _C’mon, honey. You’re not seriously tellin’ me you forgot already? We talked about this over breakfast.”_

H-Huh...Breakfast?  
Oh. Breakfast.  
_OH._ _  
  
_

“W-Wha...O-Oh! J-Jeez...You startled me. Hey! F-Father, _of course_ I didn’t forget!”  
  


I totally forgot.

“A-And _don’t_ scare me like that! You know how groggy I am when the sun’s just come up...I was almost food for the fishies…” 

Father gave me a hearty laugh, which rang out into the open air of our small village.  
It became immersed by the moat beneath our house’s bridge.   
It was twisted by the windmill at the end of the off-road path.

It whisped through the razors of grass.  
It called to the clouds,  
yet whispered to the birds.

It wasn’t enough to beat the heart of the residents of the quaint village.  
But it was enough to stir our quiet little world itself. Just a bit.  
My Father’s voice was well recognized in Yown. Our still, little pocket of Hyrule.

“ _Hah!_ You may still be my little girl, Linkle, but you’re a _big_ girl everywhere outside of the house, now. There isn’t a fish in any pond that could gobble you up...Well, maybe not without some help, at least. _Annnd_ Maybe a Zora by themself could, too.”

“Gross!” I pat his well-toned arm over my shoulder with my small hand, sighing sheepishly. “Take it easy, pops. I only turned seventeen a few days ago. S-Sure, I’m _older_ , but it’s not like I’m all-the-way a grownup, yet.”  
  


He gives me another hearty chuckle, but cuts it short this time. “Where were you headed to, anyhow? Octoball practice doesn’t start for another hour or so.”

“Oh. I know. I was thinking I’d just go by Riecz’s and play cards for a little until Coach had everything setup for us to practice. The Hylian Octoball Derby season is starting in two months, with tryouts happening in two weeks! _Annnnnd_ …”

He knew my next words like the back of his hand. “Oh, this again.”  
  


“C’mooon, Pops. You know this is everything I’ve wanted since I was little. I’ve been an Octoball player for so long _because_ I remember when you took me to my first Derby. It was magical. You said to wait until I was older to ask you about setting off on my own for the tryouts at Castle Town, _so here I am!_ ”

I was getting a bit peppery, which I didn’t think I was meaning too…  
But, oh well.  
  


“Gonna tell me no _again?_ _Huh? Are you? Am I really the big girl you say-”_

“Linkle…”  
  


“Hmph! You’re always like this. But Father, I want some freedom too! A-And-”  
  


“Linkle!”

My lips sealed shut. His face was more stark, now. Yet still retaining the warmth of the rising sun.

“I _haven’t_ even answered you yet. _You’re_ always the one to get loud and bossy first, ya know…” he goes right back to chuckling. It’s comforting, actually, “if ya just let me address to you what I stopped you for _first, maybe it might just answer your question?_ ” 

I shrink inside myself, maybe this is the bit of “mom” that he keeps telling me about that wells in me.  
But, I wouldn’t know. She died before I ever got to know her.

“O-Okay…sure...” I squeak.

“Good. Now. We talked about this over breakfast...but I’m guessing it went in one ear and out the other. So I’ll explain it again…” 

Father reaches for a latch-release to an object strapped at his hip.  
After getting one portion unfastened, he turns the item around for me to see it.  
It’s a satchel. Looks kinda heavy, too.

He begins speaking in his smooth, bold tone. “Now, you know my knees are pretty bad these days, but I never wanted you to bear the burden of my old life as a knight, and so I never used them as a reason for you to do anything for me. But the rain from yesterday caused some pretty nasty aches and pains, pains that still haven’t left me.”

“O-Oh. I’m sorry, dad. I-I should have thought about that…”

“Doesn’t matter, ya forgot why it was important in the first place. Heh.”

“Oh, can it! I’m tryin’ to be nice~.”

“I know, chill out. Just messin wit’ ya.”

His face is candied by the warm morning sunlight.  
He speaks his next words carefully. 

“Anyhow. Cuz of my knees right now, I can’t go on lengthy treks. Not even horseback.” He removes the satchel from his pants, presenting it to me. “So I figure: Hey, my little girl wants to start going out soon, and _I_ need this parcel delivered. If you can prove to me you can get this from point A to point B, I’ll let you start going out on your own whim. Yes, _even_ to the Octoball tryouts. Win-win, huh?”

My eyes widen like a kitten.  
Warmth brims inside of me.  
Father’s love, and his trust fill my chest.

“R-Really?! You mean it? Dad! This is great. But...Where did you say you wanted me to take that again?”

He points off into the distance, I follow the lead of his finger. “To the north of here is Castle Town, yeah?”

“Y-Yea!”

“Okay, and to the _west_ of Castle Town is _where?_ ”

I had to think about this one for a second…  
  


“U-Uh… Kaka...Kakai...K-Koko…”

“Tip of your tongue, Linkle, tip of your tongue.”

“K-Kiki...K-Korok...Ka-Kakariko! Kakariko Village, yes?! I’m right, aren’t I?”

He gives another hearty laugh that scares off some Blue Jays huddled up at the pond.

“Took ya long enough.”

“H-Heh. I’m smarter than you think!”

“I _know_ you’re a smart girl, that’s why I’m trusting you with this. Take what’s in here to Kakariko Village, northwest. There's a map rolled up right here.”

“G-Gotcha...I think I can do it. But who needs this?”

“Professor Fritsz and Frixell, the research duo. I was given this satchbag by one of their out-sources to take over to them. I was told not to ask too many questions about it, so the same goes for you. Don’t go snooping, alright? Just get it over to em.” 

“O-OK. I got it.”

We make our way to the stables near a town farm.  
He prepares a cream-colored mount, same as my undershirt, at the request of specifically the stable’s owner.  
This was apparently the least rowdy of the bunch, perfect for beginners.

Though, when it came to horseback, _I wasn’t_ a beginner.  
I just never got to ride far.  
I guess Father was just bein’ his usual _extra-careful_ self with this pick.

I don’t think I wanted to give him any lip about it, though.  
Not this time.  
I was finally getting to go outside! There was lots to see! And if I could make it back in one piece, I could _finally,_ **_finally_ ** _pursue my heartfelt dream of becoming a real Octoball player._

I couldn’t,  
no,  
I _wouldn’t_ mess this up.

Father, you’re in good hands. “O-Okay. I think I’m good, yea?”

“Yep, you’re all set. Got your map?”

“Right here!” I flashed the prompted item right in front of him.

  
He and I…  
We both saw that it was _upside-down_ …  
But, that wasn’t important. Heh.  
  


“A-Alright...This trip, for a beginner at least, is probably gonna be a little over two days. Think you can squash that?”

“In _no time flat._ I’ll be back before ya know it.” 

“It’s a deal, then.”

My gentle steed begins to strut through the town archway. I blew Father a kiss before looking toward the horizon  
But I caught something on my way out.  
He had just one last thing to say.

“Make me proud, sweetheart.” 

  
  


* * *

I’m not much for words…  
But I was captivated.  
I was truly captivated.

The sprawling meadows of Hyrule Field were exactly as my Father described them to be to me long ago.  
They’re exactly as I _imagined them_ .   
It was lush, green, and cozy.

Much different from the canopy of trees we had peered through earlier, I and my steed had felt...welcomed here.  
This wasn’t danger.  
Nor was it “wilderness”, as Father had put it.

The sun glinted across each blade of grass.  
The sparkle of the dew on each leaf and shrub accompanied the nostalgic smell it gave off perfectly.  
It was all captivating. Captivating, and magical.

Father…  
I don’t know what you were so worried about, or what you wouldn’t tell me about coming this far out.  
But, I don’t think it’s that bad…

I’m not scared, in this sprawling meadow.  
I’m not scared, under the warm sun.  
I’m not scared, smelling the dew.

In fact, I was much to the contrary.  
I was _free_ . I was finally able to stop being a girl.  
I could finally start to feel like a _woman._

In my burst of excitement, I checked my map again.  
Yep. I was still going in the right direction.  
Ya see, dad? I _can_ do this.

I _can_ prove to you that I’m old enough.  
I _can_ prove that I don’t need to be up under your wing so much.  
I _can_ prove that I’m ready to go to the Octoball tryouts.

I _can_ prove it.  
And I _will_ .  
I _will_ make you proud.

  
  


A while yet, and we had stopped over the middle of a small pond.  
The both of us were quite thirsty, and I had wanted to soak in all of the wonderful plains around me.

My steed began to drink from the shallow pond.  
At my request for him to stay put, he shrimply lifted his head off of the water for a moment to blow through his lips at me, snuffing his nose.  
That was answer enough for me, I suppose.

It’s trained to not leave it’s owner, so I knew it wouldn’t. “Ah...It’s... _really_ magnificent out here. I can’t believe it’s taken so long for Father to allow me to come to this place on my own.”

I had walked a short distance about the plains, away from my steed, though still within easy reach of him once I was ready to start my journey again.  
We were actually _ahead_ of schedule thus far, so a break was in order, and wouldn’t be costing me any time.   
If Father could see me now, he’d laugh at himself for being so worried.

“Guess I’ll lie down for a bit. _You okay over there?_ ”

My horse replied in the same manner as it did to me earlier.  
Once again, answer enough. 

The cool, prickly blades of grass combed over my skin as I waved my arms beside me along the meadow.   
It was a feeling unlike anything else. True freedom.  
It felt as if I were being embraced, much the same as Father would do to me.

The smell of dew filled my nose, and the breeze…  
_The breeze felt so good.  
_My crimson bangs danced along to the tune of the wind as I took it all in once more.

The sun beamed in my face.  
The clouds above cruised along the sky, and I played games in my own mind.  
Trying to decipher the shapes.

“H-Heh. Hehe. That one...That one looks like an Octoball...Is Coach trying to tell me I’m late for practice today? Too bad, Coach...I ain’t comin back…”

I took another whiff of Hyrule’s bliss through my nose. “...not for a while…”

This was my time.  
My time for _myself.  
_ And my time to _prove myself._

I was _going_ to earn my freedom.  
I was _going_ to become an Octoball player.  
I was _going_ to get through this.

But, I was going to _enjoy_ this too.  
I was going to enjoy the smells and sights.  
I was going to _enjoy_ the gentle breeze.

The bright sun.  
The rolling clouds.  
The blue sky.

I looked away from the clouds for a bit.  
My horse was now lying down, patiently waiting for my return.  
I, however, was in no rush yet. We still had a good half-an hour before time would be any factor for me. 

Once the skies were clear, I’d know my time here was up.

“Should be okay…For _just_ a bit longer…”

But…

“Huh…? W-Weird…”

The clouds, they were rolling faster.  
The sky, it was clearing.  
And it was clearing _much_ sooner than it had any right to.

The dew was blowing up off of the grass violently.   
I saw the leaves of shrubs along the meadow begin to be yanked by the wind.  
In fact, yeah. The breeze from earlier was _much more_ than _gentle_ , now.

All in the same direction, the meadow was tossed.  
Tossed by the wind. Some blades were even separated from the soil.  
The clouds were speeding off, as if they didn’t want to be above me anymore.

The sight was odd to me at first,  
but then quickly became alarming.  
_So much so that I jumped up from where I was._

 _But I couldn’t take my eyes off of the sky.  
_ _Not yet.  
_ _Because,_

_“H-Hey...What the heck’s going on?! W-What time is it??”_

_The sky,  
_ _it was,  
_ _darkneing?!_

“ _N-No...Wait...Did I fall asleep? Was I wrong about the time? No way...I could have sworn it was still morning!”_

_With the clouds.  
_ _With the wind,  
_ _And now, the sky._

 _I had one though racing in my mind.  
_ _I was transfixed, but absolutely bewildered.  
_ _I couldn’t take my eyes off of what was happening._

 _The darkness increased so fast it was outrageous.  
_ _I knew in that moment,  
_ **_something was wrong._ **

_I was transfixed, but absolutely bewildered.  
_ _Because the sky wasn’t done changing it.  
_ _The darkness looming over was soon brushed across with a crimson film._

 _Crimson just as my hair was.  
_ _The sun from within the nightmarish haze looked like a ball of death.  
_ _I felt as if blood were spilled in the sky. The bloody film filled the sky._

 _And it threatened to rain down over me.  
_ _I couldn’t parse it. It didn’t feel real.  
_ _I started to touch myself all over._

 _Was I still here?  
_ _Was I losing my mind?  
_ _I felt my blue tunic first._

 _That was still there.  
_ _I felt up my face. My fingers and skin still gave me the same sensations as always.  
_ _I felt both my shoulders. The small, silver paldron Father had given me as a traveling charm was still there. I patted it down onto my shoulder to make sure it was secure._

_I_ **_was_ ** _still there.  
_ _I was still just the same as I’d always been? Right?  
_ _So why did everything around me feel wrong?!_

_“I-I...Oh! Right! You!”_

_I peeled my face away from the sky.  
_ _My steed. I had to see if he was okay.  
_ _I had to see if he was_ **_seeing_ ** _all of this too._

 _He was...still lying on the ground.  
_ _I guess he fell asleep, maybe?  
_ _He wasn’t seeming phased by any of this._

 _The crimson in the sky had begun to consume everything around me.  
_ _I’d seen the world drenched in red. Drenched in this ridiculous bloody film.  
_ _I looked all over, trying to find_ **_something_ ** _that looked normal._

 _The grass, it was red.  
_ _The pond, it was red.  
_ _The shrubs and the horizon beyond them._

 _All red.  
_ _All as crimson as my hair.  
_ _All apart of this outrageousness now._

_“A-Agh! Ow!”_

_I’d heard a loud, rippling sound go off.  
_ _It was above me.  
_ _Once again, my eyes were stitched to the above. The sky that was now a clear red sea._

 _In the center of my vision, the culprit of the tearing sound had made itself known.  
_ _I was seeing something_ **_truly_ ** _unreal.  
_ _It grew and grew. A dark circle._

_Around the rims of the round insanity buzzed a fierce, orange static.  
_ _I was shaken. I wanted to run, but I couldn’t move._

_“W-What...What the-”_

_  
_ _  
_ _It grew and grew.  
_ _And in the next moment,  
_ _another horrible noise sounded off. One that startled my steed, as I felt it gallop toward me._

 _I still couldn’t move.  
_ _I had felt my own insides running cold.  
_ _I was shaken._

 _Out of the circle came a burst of blackness.  
_ _It had careened toward the meadow beneath as would a meteor.  
_ _It was the exact diameter of the dark circle that championed it. It rained it’s nightmare down in a bold pillar._

 _My eyes followed it the entire way.  
_ _I was still shaken. I wanted to scream. To run. To be back home.  
_ _Hyrule Field didn’t feel so warm, so gentle, anymore._

 _It felt cold.  
_ _It felt vicious.  
_ _It felt_ **_lonely_ ** _._

_I was no longer embraced.  
_ _I had felt imprisoned.  
_ _My brave steed was my only relief. He had stuck by me._

 _The black pillar dissolved.  
_ _What happened next was a mighty bellow of wind.  
_ _An explosion of the air around the space._

 _It was so extreme that I was sent flying.  
_ _I had slammed straight into my horse and we’d both been knocked backwards.  
_ _I was ragdolled over it’s large body, right onto my face._

 _I was eating dirt.  
_ _Struggling to gather my bearings.  
_ _I was scared, but I knew I had to figure out what was happening._

_With my face in the meadow, I couldn’t see. There was ignorance.  
_ _They say ignorance is bliss.  
_ _But right now? It was going to cost me my life if I didn’t_ **_move._ **

_Upon the completion of my slow rise, I saw quite a few things.  
_ _One, the daytime...the color...it had returned.  
_ _Two, my steed was knocked over, right in front of me, struggling just as well to get up._

 _I was dazed. I could barely think straight.  
_ _There was so much to process.  
_ _So much to take in. None of it was gentle. None of it was blissful._

 _Finally,  
_ _there was_ **_three.  
_ ** _I had saw...two of them._

_“A-Are those…”_

_Two swordsmen.  
_ _Fighting the duel of their lives in the middle of the meadow that was sapped of it’s light just moments earlier.  
_ _It was another piece of the insanity. Another thing that didn’t feel real._

 _I was shaken.  
_ _I couldn’t take my eyes off of them.  
_ _I was frightened...They were definitely trying to kill one another._

_Through each clash of their blades, the sounds of my entire world splitting apart pierced my ears.  
_ _One was towering. Wild. With hair just as equally so. His hair was amber, flowing in the wind like a ferocious flame._

_The other?  
_ _This one was much smaller. Nimbler. His hair was a kindly pink. Like a cherry blossom.  
_ _The tower looked old. Hardened. And most of all, resentful._

 _The small one looked heroic. Dependable. Courageous. Like he’d fight to his very last breath.  
_ _They clashed once more. I was able to examine their garb.  
_ _The large warrior had on dark armor, with golden accents. He was covered in it. It consumed him._

 _The small warrior…  
_ _W-Was he stupid? His tunic looked almost exactly like the one I was wearing, only colored a forest-green.  
_ _Why would he fight in that? With no armor to speak of? I may have to retract what I said about him being “dependable” earlier._

_Lastly, in the great clash of blades before me. I saw the blades themselves.  
_ _The large man had an equally large, dark broadsword. It’s darkness threatened existence itself.  
_ _The small boy had a sword that was also close to his size. The hilt was blue, with a guard the most peculiar shape I think I’d seen. At least, when compared to Father’s Soldier’s Broadswords._

 _Each sword the two warriors championed had a crystal engraved in the base of the blade.  
_ _The large man’s gem was amber, as was his hair.  
_ _The small boy’s was blue, as was the rest of the hilt it adorned._

  
  


_I tried. I tried to move.  
_ _But my body was quivering. Even standing felt like a chore.  
_ _I watched the two swordsmen make attempt after attempt on each other's lives._

 _I prayed.  
_ _I begged.  
_ _That they wouldn’t find a reason to avert their swords to me._

_The boy, clad in green, leaped an amazing height into the air before coming down right over top of the large man clad in darkness.  
_ _The larger warrior didn’t flinch. He had simply met his sword again, while the boy was suspended in the air.  
_ _Even though I had never met them, something was telling me there would be a great hardship ahead if the man in darkness had emerged victorious._

_My crimson locs whipped up again in the vicious wind of the bout.  
_ _The large warrior had capitalized on the mistake of the boy.  
_ _The boy had come down over his own weight, right on top of the dark warrior._

 _When that happened, the boy found himself being wrung by the neck.  
_ _The large man had a merciless, armored grip over his wind tunnel.  
_ _The boy twitched, at the behest of nothing more than his captor now._

 _When that happened, I felt as if my own neck were being squeezed.  
_ _I don’t_ **_know_ ** _why. I don’t even think I_ **_cared_ ** _why.  
_ _I wanted to run. I wanted to_ **_move._ **

_I didn’t want this anymore.  
_ _I didn’t want to be apart of this.  
_ _I didn’t want to see any of this._

 _I wanted my home.  
_ _I wanted my peace of mind.  
_ _I wanted my Octoball practice._

 _I didn’t want to see them hurting each other.  
_ _I wanted to see people getting along. Being happy.  
_ _I wanted Father. God, did I want Father._

_The boy howled, wincing. From the distance, I couldn’t quite make out the faces.  
_ _But I knew he was squirming. He was in pain. He was drawing stammered breaths.  
_ _He was squirming. He was struggling. He was just begging to hold on._

 _I saw his fingers curl into a balled fist. A light on the top of his hand began to shine.  
_ _A warm, golden glimmer that beamed out in all directions.  
_ _He took his beaming hand and shirked his body through the pain._

 _He had sucker punched the dark warrior.  
_ _But this would be nothing more than struggle.  
_ _The large warrior tightened his grip, and mere seconds later the same thing would happen._

_His hand beamed with light.  
_ _His hand glimmered, but it’s glow was strength. Cold strength.  
_ _Not warmth._

 _The boy was squirming again.  
_ _But that wouldn’t last long.  
_ _Because I saw it._

 _I saw his body stop.  
_ _And while, from the distance, I couldn’t quite make out the faces.  
_ _I had a feeling the large warrior...was smiling._

 _In fact, I was sure of it.  
_ _I was sure of it, because he was laughing.  
_ _It was raspy. It was bold. It was hearty._

 _In none of the ways that Father’s laugh was.  
_ _It was maniacal.  
_ _It rang through my entire body._

_I was cold.  
_ _I was losing it.  
_ _I didn’t want to listen to that laugh anymore._

_“Get up! Get up! Please!!”_

_My horse begins to answer me as I shake it, slowly rising from his debilitated state.  
_ _I can’t be here.  
_ _This isn’t safety. This isn’t Father. This isn’t Octoball._

 _I just saw someone die.  
_ _I just saw someone laugh as he killed his adversary.  
_ _I just saw something unbelievable._

 _I just saw something I thought I’d never see.  
_ _I just saw something no young girl should have to see.  
_ _I just saw something_ **_no-one_ ** _should have to see, period._

_His laughter stopped.  
_ _I tried to mount my steed.  
_ _I tried to escape._

 _I wanted to forget this day ever happened.  
_ _I wanted to go back.  
_ _Back to the rolling clouds. Back to the dew. Back to gentle grass._

 _I didn’t want this. My mind couldn’t handle any of it.  
_ _And,  
_ _I think he knew._

 _Because my steed,  
_ _he toppled to the ground again, right when the laughing man stopped.  
_ _My steed howled. It cried, as something collided with its body._

 _I would have been crushed under its weight had I not been fast enough to back away.  
_ _I felt so sorry for him.  
_ **_Both_ ** _of them._

 _My steed,  
_ _and what had been tossed into him.  
_ _The boy held his head, clutching every nerve. Apparently he wasn’t quite dead._

_I got a look at his face.  
_ _Regretful. Wincing. Not dependable in any sense.  
_ _He was in pain._

 _Pain I was nowhere near equipped to treat.  
_ _Pain I didn’t have any time to treat.  
_ _Because, at his next hurl of blood, in pained agony. Silence._

 _My eyes couldn’t stay focused.  
_ _I wanted so badly for none of this to be real.  
_ _He was_ **_quite_ ** _dead, now._

 _And, not only that,  
_ _the maniacle warrior wasn’t finished.  
_ _He seemed not only to enjoy pummeling his prey, but making them suffer, too._

_But, his eyes…  
_ _They weren’t_ **_on_ ** _the boy.  
_ _I was right next to him as he lie, cold and lifeless._

 _He wasn’t looking at the sack in my arms anymore.  
_ _I wanted none of this to be real. Especially not the fact that…  
_ _He had his eyes on_ **_me._ **

_I was shivering.  
_ _I had to find something.  
_ _Something._ **_Anything._ **

_I couldn’t go for the weapon.  
_ _He’d dropped it as he was being strangled.  
_ _There was only one thing of use on him._

_“S-Shield…T-That’s a shield!”_

_A rim of pure iron.  
_ _The Hylian crest shown in full detail on the inner plate.  
_ _That was it. That was my chance._

 _I fought with the lifeless corpse to get what I needed loosened.  
_ _I couldn’t think about anything. I couldn’t think about who this boy is, or why he was fighting.  
_ _I couldn’t think of his life, or his Father, if he had one._

 _I could only think about my life._ **_My_ ** _Father.  
_ _I was scrambling. I couldn’t worry about anything else.  
_ _My horse was dead. The contents of the satchbag were stuck under him._

 _None of that mattered anymore.  
_ _I had to do something.  
_ _I had to get away._

_“F-Finally!”_

_I took up the boys shield.  
_ _I was cold. I was losing it.  
_ _I was still quivering. Waiting for this hell to be over._

 _I raised_ **_my_ ** _shield.  
_ _I hid behind it as the maniac drew closer to me.  
_ _I could barely stand. I just wanted to be safe._

 _I should be running. I know.  
_ _But I don’t know why-  
_ _I- I don’t know why I can’t-_

 _I have nothing.  
_ _Nothing but this shield.  
_ _Nothing but this false safety._

  
  


_“_ Heh.” The warrior chuckled as he stopped. I looked over my shield to see what he was planning. To see the twisted game he’d want me to play with him. Would he strangle me too? Would he defile me first? 

He apparently didn’t care to move any closer to me.  
I tried again to run. I was still frozen in place. Still taking it all in.  
I desperately wanted _not_ to.

He groaned. “Hmm…? Sure, if you want.”

That definitely wasn’t directed at me.  
I knew, because another bizarre phenomena happened before me.  
The gem in his blade began to blink. Once, and then three times.

Shortly after, a figure shot out of the blinking light. Feminine in shape.   
She was the color of coal. Pure darkness. Accented only by visible amber veins all through her body.  
She skid across the ground on her fist, grinding to a halt, before rising with a manic, strong presence. 

Her evil felt pure.  
More pure than the warrior.  
The amber in her eyes pierced right through my chest. 

And unlike the warrior.  
_She_ wasted no time.  
She blitzed across the space between her and I.

I couldn’t process it.   
I couldn’t decipher her movement at all.  
She was there, first. Then, she was here. Right in front of me.

She didn’t attack. Not at first. “Oho~. What’dwe have here? Ooooo, poor thing. Ya saw _all_ of that, didn’t ya?”

I couldn’t answer her. I couldn’t do anything except keep trusting the shield. 

“Ya know~...It’s rude to shove your nose in other’s business, yeah?” She started to walk around my quivering body, circling me, ignoring the wall I _tried_ to have up between us.

But the warrior rushed her out of her pleasantry. “Jesta. No wasting time. Either kill the little shrimp or don’t. We have to go...Hyrule Castle awaits. The Hero of Time isn’t standing in our way anymore.” 

“Fine. Whatever.” She said, returning to me.

She narrowed her eyes with an evil smirk.  
The shield. The wall. The safety I had?  
It meant nothing to her.

She lifted her leg, shoving her foot right over top of my safety. My protection.  
For another time today, I was sent flying backwards.  
This time, I didn’t hit the ground. I had slammed right into a distant rock.

I was dazed. In _so much pain.  
_ I could feel everything. Yet I couldn’t feel a _single_ thing.  
The nightmare was overtaking me. And again, I couldn’t move.

The two figures in the distance were nothing more than dark blobs in my current state.  
I couldn’t think. I couldn’t feel.  
I was cold. I had lost it. I just wanted to sleep.

So that’s what I did.

The light of Hyrule Field became dark.

As my eyes shut, and I lost consciousness.


	2. Be Strong

My bed was rough today. It was hard as well. It was cold. It was...jagged. I didn’t have a blanket, so I guess I just didn’t wash it. My mind went adrift between two states: completely blank, and _assaulted by terrors. Nightmares. When my mind would wake in abandon of my body, I’d see it all over. I’d hear the laughter. I’d see his cherry-blossom hair. I’d feel his hand clutch my small arms, trying to pull himself up off of my steed. I’d see the bloodstain from his bashed skull all over the abdomen of my ride. I’d see that tan warrior’s massive dark sword. I’d remember that woman...The woman who violated me, who pretended my safety didn’t exist. I’d remember the trust I put in a corpse that had nothing and would never have anything to say to me. I don’t even think he looked in my eyes...but I saw his. Brown. Like mine. Eyes with all the determination in the world. The way he held his head in his hand, clutching every nerve. Acting like he’d get right back to fighting that man who knew the letter was sealed. Acting like the mortal wounds were no big deal. His forest green cap, drenched in crimson. Crimson just as my hair was. I didn’t know him. I never will. But when I saw him struggle, when I saw him refuse to accept defeat, even in his final_ **_seconds_ ** _. I felt it. I felt like I was apart of that. I felt like I was with him. That mop of cherry blossom was friendly. Courageous. But I wasn’t exactly sure about ‘dependable’._

_Didn’t matter now. He was dead.  
_ _And as much as I didn’t want to be involved with any of that,  
_ _it was real. It happened. The fear of being between those clashing swordsmen still sends_ **_my_ ** _nerves into frenzy._

 _What’s more.  
_ _I was alive.  
_ _That man of darkness...He called the boy ‘The Hero Of Time.’_

 _The Hero of Time had died. And I didn’t know what that meant.  
_ _I didn’t know what_ **_any_ ** _of it meant.  
_ _But such a fierce battle...The victor was one that clearly didn’t have good intentions. That to me is alarming enough. Even as I am now, unable to leave my serrated resting place._

 _The Hero of Time was no more.  
_ _And I was alive.  
_ _Alive to remember it, over and over._

_I wanted to scream, I wanted to roll over. I wanted to jump, I wanted something to jerk my body from this mania. But something else was telling me not to. Not to make sudden movements. Not to roll. Lest I fall into endless oblivion. Oblivion. Just like that boy. Just like the Hero of Time._

_“Arise, little one.”_

_Huh…?_

_“Awaken, child. I implore you.”_

_Someone...is talking? To me? That can’t be my bed...Bed’s don’t talk. It’s too soft spoken to be Father. It’s too...mechanical, to even be a_ **_person._ **

_“Precious little one, please rise from your slumber. This matter is urgent.”_

_Yeah. Fine. Sure. I could if I could move._

_“Child…”_

_I’m_ **_trying_ ** _._ **_I’m trying to get up. In case you couldn’t tell, I haven’t slept very well._ **

_“...of the Goddess Hy-”_

_“What?!”_

.. _.It wasn’t my bed at all._ _I wasn’t even in a bed. The cold, jagged, hard surface that I thought was at first just my mattress being cumbersome was_ ** _actually_** _some sort of rocky agent. I was...well, I wanted to say ‘on a cliff,’ but that’d be selling this bizarre event in its entirety short._

_“You are awake at last. I am pleased that you are physically well.”_

_“n-ngh...o-ow...S-Speak for yourself.” I hiss, prying my head from the puddle I was lying in. That explains the cold. I lifted myself up onto my bottom. My arms were sore from being pressed into the rocky plane by my own weight, too anxious to move a muscle._

_My anxiety was as real as this world felt_ **_unreal_ ** _. There was a reason my gut told me not to move. And when I had uncovered it...I wanted to hurl up bile. Below me was nothing but darkness. Blackness. Abyss past a sea of purple clouds. Below the cliff was a space I could describe as nothing other than the threshold to hell. And upon this realization I shuffled back like a scuttling beetle. There were no walls, no supports, and this cliff was_ **_narrow_ ** _. I was shaken more than any worldly speech could describe. This wasn’t my home. This wasn’t Father. This wasn’t the meadows. I wasn’t even sure if this was_ **_Hyrule._ **

_“Precious one. Unfortunate child…”_

_I wish you’d stop_ **_talking._ **

_“W-Who??” I squeak, too frozen to try to stand. “What...H-Hey, what is this?! What is_ **_any_ ** _of this?! What are you?! Why am I here? A-Am I dead? D-Did I really die out there?? F-Father...Where-”_

_“Please calm down.” The blue, cloaked, mechanical woman spoke gently, as she had been the whole time. Her body of aqua was a shade much the very same as that boy’s sword gem. The resemblance was striking. But I didn’t care to ask about it. I was too afraid._

_She answers my cries. “Worry not, little one. You are in no danger. This place will not harm you, for it is I who has brought you here.”_

_I couldn’t take my mind off of my thoughts from earlier. She seemed like she had answers, so I came right out with it. “L-Lady...A-Am I...dead? Is this the afterlife?”_

_She speaks again, softer than before, enough to even stave the roboticism in her voice. “You are alive, child. Please, be not afraid. I have brought you here because of your unfortunate crossing of paths with my former Master.”_

_“M-Master? The heck do you mean? P-Please, I just want answers.”_

_“The answers shall come. However, firstly, I’d like to introduce myself. Humanity has taught me that connections are birthed first through the learning of one’s name. You may address me as ‘Fi’. You also have a name, yes?”_

_“U-Uh-huh...I do…”_

_She hovers a bit closer to me, offering me her cloak to grab so that I could stand. I refuse her, too afraid of falling._

_“I must reveal that I already know, through your brief contact with my Master, what your name is. But for the sake of your integrity, you may tell me as though I do not know.”_

_“O-Okay...It’s Linkle...That’s my name.”_

_She gives an affirming nod, going back to our previous subject. “We cannot idle, as I am afraid our time will be short. Allow me to answer your questions, one by one, and explain why I have brought you here.”_

_“O-OK. Please, tell me what’s going on, Fi.”_

_Fi nods, smiling. “This place you are in...it is the Sacred Realm. I have brought you here on urgent matters. As stated previously, your encounter with my Master was on…” her tone goes sour, which contradicts the roboticism of her inflections, like she's trying to cast them out, even, “...hapless terms. Highly unideal, for circumstances I shall reveal momentarily. But, it is indeed the purpose behind me choosing to bring you to this place, nonetheless.”_

_“I-I see. Who’s this ‘Master? Although I think I already know...”_

_“It is as you suspect, precious one. My former master is the boy you witnessed fall in battle.”_

_My eyes widen. It was the answer I suspected, so that wasn’t why though. No, my eyes widened because I realized that if that boy with the pink hair really was her master, she could tell me more about him. I’m not sure why I even cared to know...but after everything I saw, it just didn’t feel fair_ **_not_ ** _to ask. “It was the pink-haired fighter, wasn’t it…?”_

_Fi nods._

_“The man...That man who killed him...he called him “The Hero of Time.” W-What’s that mean? Did that Hero of Time guy have a name?”_

_“They called him ‘Link.” I have only ever referred to him as Master.”_

_I press my fingers to my throat. ‘Link, huh..?’ As if I didn’t already feel enough connections to that boy, now I’m finding out our names are similar. Coincidence, probably. Let’s not get hung up on semantics, now._

_“I-I see. Hey...Fi?”_

_“Yes?”_

_“I-I’m sorry...I-I don’t know why I’m apologizing to you, but I’m sorry. If that guy was your Master, this must be hard for you. I wish I could have done more.”_

_Fi hangs her head, but only for a moment before returning to my eyes, gaze almost too perfectly neutral to feel real. “None of that was through any fault of you, child. Do not feel as if you are the one to blame.”_

_Did she not hear me…? “I-I didn’t say I did. Don’t you feel anything for him? Were you not close with him?” I had no idea why I suddenly began to project onto Fi over Link. I didn’t know either of them. So maybe I really did just feel guilty._

_She answers me almost too quickly. “That is unimportant. We are not in any position to discuss those matters at the moment. Our time is short.”_

_I nod quickly. I couldn’t read her emotions at all. “S-Sure. Let’s just get to why you brought me here then.”_

_She hovers above and away from me, becoming glistened by the glow of the massive moon overtop of the floating cliffs dotted about this mysterious plane._

_She speaks once more, her tone becoming completely impersonal, and sterk. She’s not to be interrupted now. “Linkle. You have witnessed the death of the Hero of Time, the sacred hero of legend that is cyclically meant to bring safety to the land of Hyrule upon the arrival of evil. As the spirit residing in his championed weapon, the Master Sword, I have taken it upon myself to request of you a favor.”_

_“F-Favor? You need some help?”_

_“Linkle, Hyrule will soon face a grave danger. The Bringer of Darkness has overcome the Hero of Time, who was meant to fell him. Without a warrior courageous and apt enough to wield my blade, the darkness he brings will prevail.”_

_I get chills all over me, but I keep listening._

_“I am asking you most genuinely: Please, warn the citizens of Hyrule. Inform them of the Hero’s demise, so they may prepare in any way they so choose to protect themselves from the Bringer of Darkness, until another Hero can arrive in the place of the one who fell.”_

_My voice leaps out. “T-This “Bringer of Darkness,” was it that guy? The one in the black armor? It had to be, right?”_

_“Yes. Yes it was. He is the current Bringer of Darkness. He will spread corruption and malice to all of Hyrule if he is allowed to roam freely. I request of you again, Linkle, please warn the residents of Hyrule to take any action they deem necessary in preventing his reign of terror. We must bide our time effectively if another Hero is to come at all.”_

_I nod. What’s more, I’m finally able to stand. Fi descends once again, offering me her cloak to help me up, and this time I allow her. She’s given me so much information to process, not to mention the responsibility that comes with it, too. I’m not sure how to handle it right now. I don’t know if I can handle any of this right now. I just want to see Father. That’s all I want._

_“I will be sending you off shortly, Linkle. Do you have any questions?”_

_Yeah. Just one. “...Will I ever see you again, Fi?”_

_“No.”_

* * *

_“Wakey-wakums, yaha!”_

“N-Ngh...H-Huh?”

_“Wakey-wakey, girl. Waaaakeee up.”_

My mind is prodded by the sound of rattling, as well as shaking leaves all around me.  
It’s soft, yet punchy. It’s erratic, yet considerate. Playful, yet solem.  
The rhythm is nostalgic enough to allow my rise...my _second_ one, to be more peaceful than the last. I felt welcome, if more than a little confused.

I immediately pinpointed the sound of the rattling as coming from none other than Korok.  
Large Korok deliver mail to Yown, so the rattling was familiar to me, if nothing else.  
The sporadicism and excitement of these rattling tree-folk however, were nothing like their adult counterparts.

These were children.  
And as much as that may not be surprising to any old traveler,  
it came as a shock to me. I had never seen Korok children before.

_“Rise and morning!”_

_“Suns and shinies!”_

For the second time since I’ve been conscious, I had woken up on the ground. Only this time, there _was_ a bed beneath me. If you count a bed of leaves, that is. In my hazy vision, I was assaulted by green. _Forest green. Just like that boy._ And for moments I couldn’t really make out what I was seeing, until my eyes finally came into focus. What I saw after _that_...was still just a blur green, only clearer. All around me there were shrubs, leaves, trees, stumps, and the like. Not to mention the Korok children dancing around me, as if sensing my heartache, and trying in their own way to ease my pain. 

I cupped my hands, saying nothing. One of the children took notice of my plea and jumped into them. I gave him some head pats before returning him to his brethren. 

Nothing in the space around me felt man made. I was surrounded by nature. Surrounded by the roots of existence. The canopy of the forest. At least, that was until...

“ _Ah...You are awake, my child._ _”_

A voice as thick and bold as the forest itself beckoned me. It was reserved, not hearty. So I knew it still couldn’t be Father.  
Yet and still, I answered the wide presence behind me that had interrupted my trance.

“H-Huh…?” 

Or at least, I _tried_ to.  
But another thing stopped me…  
Another thing had me entranced.

It was the short flight of winding, pearly white steps.  
That _definitely was man made.  
_ At the top was a small platform, and in the center of that platform was a pedestal. _An empty pedestal._

I had noticed the shape carved into the front of the structure directly in front of what _I assumed was_ the presence that called to me. It was no doubt the Triforce. I didn’t know much about the Triforce except what it was, really. Lot’s of Father’s leftover equipment from his days as a soldier had the thing engraved, encrusted, or painted _somewhere_ on it. I think I asked about it once, and what he told me... _loose as I can remember, anyway,_ was that it was some sacred relic from a divine land. It was created by the gods, and...I think it stops there. I honestly didn’t care much about old legends like that. Still... _why was I seeing the Triforce in the middle of a deep forest?_

I’m sure whoever needs my attention right now is getting real impatient with me.  
But I came to recognize something else… _I still had it.  
_ _That shield I took from the Hero of Time. It was holsted over my back, like it_ **_wanted_ ** _to stay with me._

 _It was there, still protecting me. Harness and all.  
_ _And I know for a fact the harness that comes with this shield_ **_was not_ ** _on me before.  
_ _Did...did the Hero of Time want me to keep it? I-I honestly couldn’t explain it to myself any other way._

 _All of this...everything from the past day has just been way too much.  
_ _And it wasn’t over yet.  
_ _I still had more crazy people to talk to here in this canopy of green...not to mention what Fi asked me to do._

_The turns my life could take from now on just felt...unpredicatable._

_“My child, are you well? Are you listening?”_

_I finally take my eyes away from everything to look at...well, I don’t know, actually._ **_Who’s calling me?_ **

_“I am up here, my child.”_

“W-What? Up where, exactly…?”

“Follow the large root near the pedestal.”

I did as I was told, following the root near the pedestal all the way up to the face of the tree.  
The... _face? Of the_ **_tree?  
_ ** **_Since when did trees get faces on them?_ **

“J-Jeez! What the hell?! Are you...Can you talk? Was that _you_ speaking to me?”

I think I was becoming a little numb to mesmerizing sights by this point, honestly.

“It is I, yes. The Great Deku Tree. You may however call me just “Deku Tree”, if you wish so, my child.” 

“A Great...Tree, huh? I-I guess anything can happen at this point. Why not. Screw it.”

“Hmm?”

I wave my hand in front of my face dismissively. “O-Oh. Don’t worry about it, Mr.Tree. I’ve just had a rough day, is all.”

His next words snap the drowsiness straight out of me. “It...You have been lying here for well longer than a day, my child.”

I flinch, chills rushing up my spine. “ _What? H-How long, then…? How long was I asleep?”_

“I don’t know the total amount of time. But I do know that you appeared _here_ , in Korok Forest, around a week or so ago.”

My stomach turns.  
I start to shake.

“ _N-No way! No! It’s been_ **_over a week?!_ ** _I’ve been gone for that many days?! I was supposed to return to Father ages ago!”_ I begin to feel my eyes well up, the shaking worsens as I ball my fist. “G-Gosh...N-No, I...Father...You must be worried sick. _I’m so sorry. I love you. I’m so sorry for failing.”_

Deku Tree begins to speak, but I cut him off before words can leave him. “H-Hey! You...Mr.Tree. Please, you _have_ to tell me where this place is! I gotta get out of here! My home...and my dad - they’re _waiting_ for me. I can’t stay here, I-” 

“Fret not, my child. I shall see to it that you are returned to your home safely. You have my word. But there are matters at hand first that we-” 

“ _Matters?” You think I got time for that? I’ve been discussing “matters” ever since I woke up! I’ve been talking to weird spirits in weirder dreamscapes...I just want some_ **_normalcy_ ** _again.” I immediately regret barking at him, as there’s no way he could have any idea. “O-Oh...but I guess you wouldn’t know what I’ve been through. I-I’m sorry, Mr.Tree. I didn’t mean to get loud.”_

He repeats himself, though taking his statement elsewhere. “Fret not. And much to the contrary, I _am_ aware of the reason you have come here.”

I twirl one of my crimson bangs in my finger, trying to keep my nerves calm. “Huh? Wait...You’re telling me all that stuff that just happened to me...you know about it?”

“I do. You are here because the sword spirit Fi sent you to me. I know what you have discussed with her, and I know the matters are of utmost urgency.”

“I-I don’t really know what to say, Mr.Tree...This is all so much to handle…But why did Fi send me _here?_ Could she not have sent me home?” 

“Though I do apologize, as I know you aren’t quite in the mental state to be taking this on at present, the present is, unfortunately, all that you and I have at the moment. Fi has sent you to me because I _too_ have a request to make.”

I knew it. I knew my life was changing for the worst. “...N-Ngh…” But, there's _something._ I don’t know what it is...but there’s _something_ in me telling me to **_be strong._ **

**_“_ ** _O-Okay...what is it? Will you send me home once you tell me?”_

“I promise you, my child. Now, if you will allow me…”

I feel a splitting headache coming on, causing me to clamp two fingers to the bridge of my nose. “H-Hurry up.”

“I saw you take notice of the pedestal before me.”

“Yeah? Are you gonna tell me what’s supposed to be there is missing?”

“You are intelligent. That is precisely what I mean to talk with you about.”

My head fog finally clears up enough for me to look at him again. The warm sunlight of what looked like the very late afternoon glossed along his overhanging leaves, making them look almost like glass.

“My child. The item that once resided within this empty pedestal was the Master Sword.”

Master Sword…? Oh! Right! “I-I remember that! Fi told me that was _her_ sword, isn’t it? And that the Hero of Time was trying to use it to bring down that “Bringer of Darkness” guy?” 

“Indeed. I will be brief. The Master Sword is a legendary blade that was forged by the Goddess Hylia some thousands of years ago. It is the sword that is destined to fell the Bringer of Darkness each time that one rises from the ashes of the “Great Curse.” The Sword of Evil’s Bane.”

“Great Curse?” 

“I am afraid we don’t have time to get into that. And, aside...I do not wish to involve you too closely with _this_ matter, as you were not set to be on this stage at all whatsoever. Simply _your being here_ under circumstances such as these is the result of grave error on all fronts of those who play a part in ensuring the Bringer of Darkness is defeated.” 

I wrap myself in my arms. “I-I see…S-So, then when does the Master Sword got to do with me, then?”

“Unfortunately, you have witnessed the fall of the Hero of Time. This is no matter to be taken lightly. Additionally, _because it was_ **_you_ ** _who witnessed his demise, Fi herself has decided to entrust you also with the task I am about to request.”_

“O-Oh...Some real big shots are puttin’ their trust into me, huh?”

“Again, I apologize to you greatly, my child. You shouldn’t know that I exist at all, but it is simply the matter we are faced with. So, with that in mind…”

I watch him carefully as he lays out his request. His tone is much more pronounced. I had a feeling that I couldn’t let myself forget any of what he was about to say.

“...My child. The precious child who unfortunately had to witness the death of our hero of legend, I apologize once more. I apologize, and ask of you, to please _find and recover the Master Sword._ It is the solemn duty of the Hero of Time to return the Master Sword here to me when his mission has ended. As you no doubt know by now...the Hero is no more. And so I, and Fi, believe that we must now entrust this task unto you. When you obtain the Master Sword, you must bring it here, and return it to the pedestal so that I may watch over it, until the next Hero of Time is born.” 

I flinch a bit, reeling from the responsibility that was just thrust upon me. “F-Find the _Master Sword?_ You and Fi...you _really_ believe _I’m_ the one that can do this?” 

“It is unfortunately less of a matter of whether we can believe in you than it is the matter that we do not have much of a _choice_ in this decision. If the Master Sword is not recovered, Fi will lose her power. She will destabilize until she is no more. And without a Goddess to forge another evil-slaying blade...the side of good will be doomed. Doomed to lose the eternal battle against the Bringer of Darkness.”

  
  


I absorb myself in my thoughts.  
Bringer of Darkness...Hero of Time...Sacred Realm...Master Sword…  
Fi...Deku Tree...Link…

  
All of it was all so new to me. It was all _so much_ . _Too much._

I felt like I was being punished, honestly.  
Punished for _caring_ . Punished for ever seeing that great battle.  
Punished for wanting to set out into the world.

Punished for wanting to be great at Octoball.  
Punished for wanting to prove that Father could trust me.  
Punished for ever thinking that _my_ life could ever truly be _mine._

This was divine punishment.  
It certainly was. At least, it certainly felt like.  
But...I felt something else.

Something much more... _inherent._ A voice.  
A voice that was _screaming_ inside of me.  
 _Screaming. Howling. Begging to be heard._

I didn’t understand it...I didn’t understand why.  
I don’t know who it was that was talking. I don’t know why it felt so loud.  
I don’t know why it sounded _just like me. Just like Linkle._

But I knew what it was saying.

It was...no, it _could only say_ ** _one_** _thing._

**_Be strong.  
_ ** **_Be strong.  
_ ** **_Be strong._ **

_Strong for who?  
_ _I don’t know.  
_ _Me? Father? Link?_

 _I had no idea.  
_ _I just heard it.  
_ **_Be strong._ **

_And so…_

_“...Okay. I’ll do it, Deku Tree. I’ll look for the Master Sword. I’ll try...no, I’ll_ **_make sure_ ** _that you get it back safely. I may not have any idea what any of this “legend” stuff is...but I’m going to do it. I don’t know why I want to. I don’t know_ **_why_ ** _Fi is trusting me with this...but I’m going to do it. So trust in me, Deku Tree.”_

“.... _A fine answer, my child. Your efforts will not go unnoticed. Not by me, and not by the great Goddess Hylia. You are one in a million, Linkle. Thank you.”_

_“N-No pro-...Wait! How do you know my name?!”_

_“It is time for you to return home. There is someone who needs to see you more than I do right now.”_

_“H-Huh?! Wait!” I feel my body enveloped by a warm light. “Wait! How will I get back to this place?! You haven’t even told me where this is!”_

  
  


_“In due time, you will find your way back here, of your own accord.”_


	3. Crepe of Death

The world had started to materialize around me.  
The sight of that was...well, I guess if I’m being honest right now...It was pretty normal.  
Heck, it was welcome. At least I wasn’t waking up again.

My vision was, at first awash with blue, as blue as the clear sky over the meadows. But eventually the blue hue over reality, the aqua haze, had started to fade. And what it uncovered to me, was Deku Tree’s promise kept. I was back. Yown had returned to me, or rather, _I’d_ returned to Yown. And the feeling _I’d_ got was... _hurried._ I felt restless. I felt like the entire mood of the village was low. I felt like a failure, because I’m sure if I wasn’t just imagining it, and I _knew_ I wasn’t, because Father would always make sure I was the bright, heartfelt sun of nearly everyone's day, smile and all, I was certain why the aura I was getting from this place felt just as restless as me. Restless, and grim. But I couldn’t go around apologizing, not right now...I needed Father. Badly.

My heart nearly burst from my chest when, past the town’s archway, at the notice board…  
I saw it. I saw the thing I was hoping would get swept under the rug.  
But also, the thing I knew wouldn’t. 

“T-That’s me...Dammit. The town watch has a search party out, don’t they?”

And none of the guards were out on watch at the archway right now. They rarely are, as honestly, trouble _rarely_ strikes here. We’re pretty remote and don’t have much, so if there were beasts or miscreants that had reason to cause trouble around, they at least weren’t around _here._ I couldn’t apologize to the town watch and have them rescind the orders to find me, and it seemed like this was the time of day where my neighbors were off in their own homes, probably doing chores and being worried about me. I hated this. All of it. I messed up so badly by not just running when I had the chance...Running from that awful day. Running from my life that had just been flip-flopped and rolled up into the affairs of the divine. It was like a crepe, a crepe of divinity. A crepe of death. And for however long...I was right inside of it, with the rest of the filling. I was inside of it with The Bringer of Darkness, with Deku Tree, with Fi, and with that other girl who looked like she was carved out of black stone. A living statue brought to life with malice, yet ethereal...like she was a spirit too. A sword spirit, like Fi.

I stomped my foot into the ground, ripping the piece of paper with my likeness drawn on it and balling it up. I clutched it in my first for a few moments, and then dropped it.  
I couldn’t take _any_ of this anymore.  
Father, I hope you didn’t go with them.

_\- Linkle’s house -_

I heard the express stomping of boots at the living room table as I opened the door slowly.  
Slowly, and silently.  
Those boots only belonged to one person. He was the only other who lived here, after all.

The door croaked, and it sprung his voice to life. “H-Huh?! Who’s there? L-Linkle?!”

I entered, hanging my head. It was sadness and shame and confusion and fear and anxiety all rolled up. Right there with me inside of the crepe of death. 

I didn’t know what to say, but I couldn’t have him freaking out at me.  
I couldn’t handle that right now, so I tried to sound calm.  
I tried to sound nonchalant, obviously knowing it wouldn’t last long.

“H-Hi. Hi, Father.”

And of course, obviously knowing it _wouldn’t_ work. Because he cried out my name, through a stammered catch of his breath. “L-Linkle! Linkle, you’re okay! Great goddesses of the green plains of _Hyrule_ I was so worried! _What happened to you out there?!”_

I walk into the house fully, leaving the door somewhat cracked. He walks by me, brisking past to close the door fully, and then swinging himself right back over to the front of me.

The sunset through the windows cast a warm, solemn, _somber_ accent over his face and his white shirt. I was a little scared at first...but when I saw his expression, I just got sad. I relaxed, knowing that he wasn’t angry, but still, I was so sad. Sad that I had to come back on _these_ terms.

“Did you get lost?! You get sick?! Did your horse abandon you?? It’s been nearly nine days!” He starts to huff and puff, noticing something alarming about my appearance _beyond_ my expression. _Beyond_ my fidgeting fingers. Beyond _my_ stammered breathing, trying to figure out _something_ to tell him that wouldn’t make him completely lose himself. At that moment, he didn’t seem to be able to put his finger on what was _off_ about me. I wanted to tell him...but that wasn’t all that important right now.

He starts to annoy with my silence, but reserves his voice to not sound like he’s _at all_ trying to yell. He was good about noticing someone's feelings. He could tell deep down, and...actually, at the surface, that my return to him was _not_ under any normal _or_ good circumstance. He could tell that I was sad. Sad, and terrified.

“L-Linkle…” He gets a bit closer to me. I’m trying to say something, but the words just won’t come out. “...Please, honey. _Please speak to me. What happened to you out there?_ ”

“I...I...F-Father... _Father!”_ It was too much for me. I skipped over to him, hoping he’d take me into his arms. He did, kissing me on the forehead and rubbing the back of my head, scratching gently at my crimson locs. “I...I just... _Ugh…”_

He lets me weep softly, and silently for a bit while we hug.

He again feels something off, off about the hug, and me...He didn’t exactly expect to pat down on metal. And he _knew_ that he didn’t send me off with a weapon harness strapped around my chest.

I break from the embrace once I’m ready and feel comfortable.

He backs away slightly, taking another look at me. I already knew I wouldn’t be able to avoid talking about any of this today. I wasn’t ready, but that didn’t matter. I couldn’t go to bed on him without at least _trying_ to say something.

“F-Father...I-”

“H-Hold on, sweetheart. I…could you _please_ show _that_ to me. On your back... _show me what that is._ I promise I won’t be angry.”

I do as he says, silently. Once it’s off, I present it to him in both of my hands. The glow from the windows glistens along the metallic rim, candying the crimson Loftwing crest atop the blue inner plate. I hang my head off to the side. I felt safe with this...but was also ashamed that I had it in the first place.

“I...Linkle... **_That’s a Hylian Shield. Why in Hylia do you have that?! Those are for the highest officials of the land only, and must be custom ordered. You don’t know the first thing about how to even keep a nightwatch, let alone swing a sword. But you’ve got your hands on something not even I could rise high enough to obtain?!”_ **

I try again. “Father.. _.Father_ _I-I…”_

“Take your time, sweetheart...I trust you...I mean it.”

I shake my head violently, trying my best. I gasp, choking back more tears.  
It’s meaningless, because they still come.  
I hang my head again, letting tears twinkle through the air before they hit the ground

I ball my first, leaving the Hylian Shield hanging in my other hand by it’s rim.

Again, I try my best to form words...and this time, they come.

_“Father… Hyrule, It’s…” I gasp a few more times as he approaches me, taking me into another hug. Without the shield in the way, he can rub my back now, too. “_ **_Hyrule’s in danger, Father._ ** _”_

_“Danger? What do you mean - what happened?! Why’re we in danger?!”_

_“_ **_The Hero…”_ ** _My lips tremble as I stammer through my next words._ **_“The Hero of Time...he’s dead. I saw it Father. I saw everything. I watched him die.”_ **

Contrary to what I expected, his voice became soft and low. It was like he wanted to sound shocked, but couldn’t. Like he wanted to scream, but didn’t have the energy. He sounded like he’d just taken an arrow, but yanked out and just got right back into the fight, like nothing happened. He sounded disappointed. _And I don’t think taking an arrow is something you should just be able to sound disappointed over…_

“ _...Well then. Sweetheart, sounds like you got a lot to talk about. Come, let’s get to the table…” His voice choked up there. Like all of the information had just hit him in his mind. But he still tried to sound ‘together’. “There anything you want first? It’s been nine days, you look like all you’ve been seeing is ghosts...I’ll fetch you a glass of water.”_

I _was_ pretty thirsty.  
I guess I just hadn’t realized how bad being unconscious for that long is.  
No doubt Fi or Deku Tree had to have played a part in my being able to survive without water for that long. But I wasn’t sure who to give the thanks to, so through each massive gulp of my glass, I just silently thanked them both.

After I was done, I had set the Hylian Shield in the middle of the living room table.  
Then, we got to talking. It was a long talk. I almost withheld some information, but…  
I just couldn’t do that. Not to Father. He had to know _everything._

And he especially had to know about _that.  
_ Because, for as relieved as I was to be home…  
 _That_ …

“...Is the reason why I don’t think I can stay, Father.” 

His eyes became glossy, I could tell all of this sounded completely insane to him  
His little girl...his treasure, his crimson-mopped sunshine, had just been wrapped up into the affairs of something not even she herself could truly comprehend.  
He pounded the table and I flinched, even though I knew that anger wasn’t directed at me.

I couldn’t stand hearing him choke back tears.  
Father is one of the things in _my_ life that I cherished most. He was my rock. He was my mentor.  
He was _my_ shoulder to cry on. So I tried being his. I scooted across the sofa, silently leaning onto him.

Words were evading him, I could tell. He had a lot to think about, and so did I.  
He rested his head atop mine. I could tell he was weeping but the way his body vibrated.  
But he was good at crying _silently_. He was good at taking his pain and dealing with it on his own. I loved him, but I kind of didn’t like that part. I wish he’d be more open about when stuff was hurting him, too. Maybe this was actually him doing that.

Moments became minutes.   
His eyes were locked onto the Hylian Shield, the living room’s light was soon becoming cold and dark, different from it’s honey glow. The night sky was glossing over the metal rim, crimson Loft-crest, and blue inner plate now. The night glossed over both of us, too.

It was sad. Sad, and terrifying. I wrapped myself around Father, looking into the Hylian Shield as well. It felt like the shiny royal treasure was staring back at me. And I saw it all again. I saw the pink hair, I saw the black armor, I saw the cloaked sword spirit in the sacred realm, I saw Deku Tree. The Hylian Shield I’d ripped from the corpse who had all the responsibility of protecting Hyrule. That was _his._ Now it was _mine._ Now, the Hylian Shield belonged to a girl who could barely keep a nightwatch, let alone swing a sword.

It stared at me.  
It spoke to me.  
Link...Is that you?

If it is...I hope somehow you can help make Father understand.  
I hope you can help him cope with the fact that his little girl won’t be able to stay.  
That this cold night glossing over us, and you...was one of the last cold nights we’d be sharing together for a while.

  
  


The words of my Father returned, at last.

_“Linkle.” He sighs, heavily, brushing a strong arm across his eyes. Too strong. “...Leave the Hylian Shield with me tonight. Tonight, I want you to be a normal girl. My little girl. Go and tell everyone who’s awake that you’re okay. Pretend like everything’s fine and you just got lost. Eventually I’ll explain everything to them, but tonight, you’re just like you always were. Once you’re done, come and get some rest.”_

My eyes narrowed at the change in my Father’s tone with his next words.  
 _What came out of his mouth next...didn’t sound like the Father I knew.  
_ This one was stern, sturdy, like a brick wall. This one was the Father clad in pale armor, and Hylian cloak. The one who could keep a nightwatch, and swing a sword. Who could yank an arrow out and keep the fight up like nothing happened. This voice came from a soldier.

_“...Tomorrow, you come see me in the backyard. My old practice-ground before my knees went bad, and before your mother passed. You come see me. Because we’ll have a long day ahead of us. And don’t worry…” He looked over at the Hylian Shield once more, eyes narrow, almost resentful of the thing. “That thing? It’s not mine, it’s yours. So you’ll be getting it back, but not the way you are right now. You’ll get it back when I know you can handle it.”_


	4. Father and Me

I’d done just as Father asked the night previously. We usually eat breakfast together, every morning, but this morning was different. This morning, he had just left it on the table for me. I didn’t quite know why, as of the very last thing he _said_ to me the night before, he was being so...distant. But I had a feeling I was about to find out. In fact, I had a feeling I already may have _actually_ known why.

The back door creaked as I made my way through it, still groggy after breakfast, as I usually am.  
The opening brought the place Father called “practice-ground” the previous night slowly into view. The warm, gentle orange light of the morning glistened over the healthy-sized space, and magnified the sheen of what was standing at the section of the fence to my left. 

I was looking at someone I hadn’t seen before, yet had known all my life. Someone close, yet so far from me. Someone who, when not dressed like he was now, would be a shoulder to cry on, would call me his “little girl”, would watch me proudly at my Octoball practice, and pat me on the head when I was done. But as I saw him now...he was a little cold. He was steeled, standing at the fence with his eyes shut, one leg up on the wooden barrier between us and the field on the other side. I wanted, instinctively, to call out to him, but I _didn’t_ . I didn’t know why, either. I don’t know why I didn’t just say _‘Father’_ to the man clad in plain, unpolished silver, padded underneath with leather, which was underneath the Hylian Soldier uniform. 

The cape at his back started to flow in the morning breeze when he noticed my presence, and stepped from away from the fence. He didn’t look at me, or say a word, there was a chest a few feet away from him that he went to go dig around in instead of acknowledging me. He pulled from it two items. The first item he pulled, he buckled over his arm. The second item, he tossed at me, sending it flying and spinning in the air, almost all the way from across the yard, _after_ he’d _finally_ decided to greet me. 

His first words to me spelled out our entire day together.

“... _You’re late.”_

_\- Day 1 -_

_“W-Wha?!”_ I just _barely_ was able to catch the item he lugged at me from across the yard, and it _hurt_ to catch it, too. It was pretty heavy, about as heavy as my Octobat, that was for sure. It was just about the same length, too, but not at _all_ the same shape. Just one look at the unpolished silver at the guard, brown cloth wrappings over the handle to protect the wearer, and the black covering that encased most of its length, made it painfully clear that what my Father had given me was a weapon.

“Go ahead. Get a feel for it. Swing it around if you like.”

I studied the sheath a bit. It was black, and plain. _Painfully plain._ There were no insignias, no Loftwings, no Triforce. Really, no fancy designs of any kind, but there _was_ some small, sloppy text on the front near the guard. ‘ _For non-field related training purposes only. Do not send any officials out into combat areas armed with this weapon, if such a thing can be avoided.’_

Huh. So it’s a practice sword.  
A...sword.  
 _A sword?!_

“F-Father, but why?”

He swung me a side-eye look, still feigning dismissive. But honestly, I didn’t care, I was kind of glad he was at least talking to me. “C’mon, what’re you, stupid? Did our conversation last night pop in your brain like a bubble?”

“U-Uh…”

“If you’re gonna be going _back_ out into the land of Hyrule, y’know, where you were almost _killed,_ you’re gonna need to learn how to protect yourself. This is non-negotiable. I’m not having you out there acting like your usual airheaded self. And if some crazy divine entities from old legends really intend to wrap _my daughter_ into all of this mess, I’m gonna make sure you’re wrapped up in it _the right way._ Now do as I said.” 

I shrieked a little, still off-put by his sudden change of demeanor. “O-Okay…”

But I did as he told me to earlier. I removed the practice sword from its sheath and looked over the blade. It was plain, and double-edged, like most of Father’s weapons. Nothing to see here, really.

I held it up under the warm morning light for a second, and that didn’t seem to help much. It was as if the metal of the blade was refusing the sun’s light. I was kind of annoyed by it, actually. I almost wanted to go back inside and polish it myself, but no...I had to take this stuff more seriously. Deku Tree gave me more than a tall order. I had to stop acting like this was playtime.

After taking a close look at the features, _painfully basic_ ones, I decided to start swinging it.

It came...sort of naturally, actually.  
At least, it’s not like swinging it was _hard_ . I could even mimic some motions with my Octobat using it.  
But this wasn’t an Octobat, it was a sword. So I was sure I had no idea what I was _actually_ doing with it. I started to take some liberties, swinging it more passionately, dreaming up techniques, even...I started to think about if I had met that man again, in the black armor...If I met that sword spirit who punted me...I started to think about how I could face up to them if I needed to. I started to get, honestly, _used_ to this...until-  
  


“Okay. Times up. Sheath the weapon and harness it.”

Father took me out of my trance, my imagination.  
Promptly _grounding_ me back to reality.  
That’s right…I’m not meant for all of that. This is just to protect myself. This isn’t for me to go off seeking trouble. I’m going to take Deku Tree back his sword, warn the citizens of Hyrule, and come right back here. I’m not the Hero of Time. I’m not Link. I’m _alive._ I want to _stay that way._

“G-Got it!” I did as I was told, and then asked him a question. “Am I not using it today?”

“Nope. You’re not ready for all that yet, Linkle. So for today…” Father stepped toward the center rank of the yard, still standing off to the side as not to be in my way. Once he was sure of his spot, he closed his eyes again. I wasn’t sure why...was he tired? Angry? I wanted to know. I wanted to cry out and ask him. But it seemed like I just couldn’t do it. And what's more, he looked...like he was focusing. Like he was trying to communicate with something…

In a few moments, my confusion would be addressed. At the snap of his fingers.  
  
 _“..._ **_Hmph!_ ** _”_ He had done something. _Something absolutely mesmerizing. I was starstruck._

_The empty yard had been filled with all kinds of items_ **_in an instant._ **

**_  
_** _There were wooden pegs in zig-zag pattern, and one swinging the width of the yard on a rope suspended in air, there was a monkey-bar, and small hurdles to jump over, along with other miscellaneous travel inconveniences. I wasn’t ready to believe it. But then I remembered…_

_“W-What?! So you_ **_can_ ** _still use magic?!”_

He panted once or twice, catching his breath. “...Haven’t uh...Haven’t done it a while, but yeah...I’ve been saving it for emergencies, as my abilities are finite. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.” He finally caught his breath, standing upright again. “I was a pretty high-ranking official, and when you get to be like me, they reward you by letting you receive a blessing from a Great Fairy. But it’s nothing compared to what they give The Hero of Time.” 

“T-That’s amazing, Father. That’s _still_ amazing that you could even get a blessing at all…” My eyes were wide again, like a kitten. Father honestly impressed me more doing this than Link did trying to fight The Bringer of Darkness. “You seem like you went far…”

“Heh. Apparently not far enough...I still never actually got my hands on _this…_ ”

He held up his arm, staring long and hard at the item buckled to it. His eyes were narrow...resentful. He looked like he wanted to rip the Hylian Shield off of his arm and toss it right into the sun, right along with its previous owner. I was half expecting Father to hiss _‘How dare you?’_ at the object. But he simply put his arm back to his side, flashing another look at me.

“But that’s enough yapping. Get going.”

“H-Huh? Going where, Father?” I said, knowing exactly what he meant. But I was bossy, and stubborn, and airheaded, and most of all, I was not letting him close himself off to me. I gave him my best cutesy eyes, with a sarcastic smirk, letting the light of the sun shining over my crimson mop do the rest of the work for me.

He shook his head, sighing, and then he chuckled. He _actually_ chuckled. “Jeez, kid...You’re gonna melt me like an ice cube. Don’t tell me _you’re both airheaded_ **_and_ ** _blind. I mean the friggin obstacle course.”_ He playfully sighed again. “Jus’ for that, _and for being late_ , you get extra laps.”

“D-Darn! Father, you’re so mean!”

“Hah! Snooze, ya lose. Now let’s get you started.”

_\- Day 5 -_

_I stammered through fragmented breaths, trying to hold all of my dinner inside of me.  
_ _I felt like I’d nearly drop dead at this rate.  
_ _And Father was still expecting_ **_twenty more._ **

_“A-Argh...Father. Father, pleeeaaaseee! It_ **_has_ ** _to be close to_ **_midnight_ ** _, and you’re still making me do this! Am I getting grey hairs already?! It feels like I’m getting grey hairs, pops. Greyer than yours.”_

_“Hah! That’s your second warning, by the way.”_

_“Second?! Did I even get the first one yet?”_

_He bent over top of me, smirking while I struggled through his rigorous crunch-rigeme._

_“One for complainin’. Two for insulting my hair. I work hard to keep this up, ya know!”_

_“...Pft. Bout as hard as I work trying to remember all the things you teach me- O-Ow! Ouch! Cramp!!”_

_He shook his head. “See? That’s what happens when you mouth off. You need to focus, airhead, or you’ll hurt yourself.”_

_“Bleh! Father._ **_Bleh!_ ** _”_

_\- Day 8 -_

_“To your left, Linkle!” I jerked to my left, grinding my feet to a halt. I swerved from the way of the horizontal wooden sign that popped out from the mock-enemy my Father had scarecrow’d up. Strafing to it’s open area, I slash at it diagonally, and swiftly, cutting it clean in half from the marked area. I felt proud. I was finally getting used to the speed of it all. I finally felt like all of the sword slashes Father demonstrated to me were_ **_clicking_ ** _. I felt like I was a little less of an airhead. Like, maybe I_ **_could_ ** _keep a nightwatch. Maybe I_ **_could_ ** _swing a sword. Maybe, just maybe...I could take-_

_A loud crash reverberated through the grounds, bouncing off of the pegs I had slashed through, the fence surrounding us, and...all through_ **_my head_ ** _.  
_ _I was square on my bottom._ **_And reeling, to boot.  
_ ** _I clutched my forehead, moaning as Father strutted towards me, huffing and puffing._

_“H-Hey. What was that for?!”_

_Once again, he shook his head. He was doing that a lot, lately. “What was_ **_what_ ** _for? I didn’t do anything.”_

_“You didn’t tell me that time!”_

_“Oh?” He folded his arms, snickering. “Was I_ **_supposed_ ** _to?”_

_“...Well…” I shook my head, trying to get the stinging to go away. “...You did all those other times.”_

_He tilted his head curiously. “Oh? I did? I don’t think I did...I think what happened is you broke focus. You were avoiding and counter attacking on your own through at least two of those waves, ya know. But you got used to hearing my voice again. You_ **_over-relied_ ** _on it, not expecting another surprise.” He exhaled. “...On the battlefield, that could have very well been your ass, Linkle. You need to get with the program. You have to learn to hear your instincts, more than you hear my commands.”_

_I slowly rise to my feet. He helps me up. I huff and puff and pout, but ultimately, he was right._

_“O-Okay, Father…I’ll keep trying.”_

_\- Day 12 -_

_“That’s it! Finally!”_

_I watch as the mockup peg crumps to the floor in two halves. I turn to Father with a smile._ _  
  
_

_“I-I did it?”_

_“Yeah. That was an amazing parry. Reminded me of my prime, honestly.”_

_I laugh, blushing a little. “A-Aww. Father, don’t tease me.”_

_“Heh. I’m not. You’re gettin’ the hang of it, really. We’ll be past the basics before you know it.”_

_I look into Father’s eyes. They’re warm.  
_ _He looks almost proud to be passing his trade techniques onto me, even if the circumstances weren’t the greatest.  
_ _Hell, they weren’t great_ **_at all_ ** _._

 _But still, he looks proud.  
_ _He almost looks like he wants to see me get good at all of this.  
_ _Is he getting nostalgic? I kinda hoped so._

_“Awesome! See? Not such an airhead now, am I?”_

_“Heh. Now, now. Don’t start getting ahead of yourself. How bout we go have lunch? You’ve earned it.”_

“ _Really?! Ugh, finally! I was starving.”_

_\- Day 16 -_

_“That’s right, sweetheart, just like that. If you breathe evenly, you can sprint for longer!”_

_I had made my way up the final rock mound, bent over with my hands at my knees, panting. Running up walls is_ **_hard._ ** _It felt like it was taking everything out of me to get over even just some of the smaller ones. But it felt so rewarding to do it right. Standing at the top of the conjured rock mound, which was only a few feet taller than the one before it, I felt like I ruled the world._

_“What now, Father? What’s next?” I said after reaching the ground._

_Father handed me something from out of his closet that he prepared that morning.  
_ _It was wooden, barely round, and it was kind of beat up looking, too.  
_ _It had a handle and a strap on the inside, so I guess what it_ **_had_ ** _to be was a “shield.”_

 _But that thing looked nothing like even the most plain-looking of Father’s shields.  
_ _It looked like someone just grabbed a giant slab of tree bark and slapped a handle on it.  
_ _It made me look at the Hylian Shield. Wasn’t I supposed to be getting that back?_

_“Defense. We’re gonna get you used to using a shield in tandem with a weapon. A shield…” he patted down onto the Hylian Shield before continuing, “...is, of course, only as good as the fighter usin’ it. This thing won’t protect you for shit if you can’t be_ **_offensive_ ** _first. Which is why I taught you all of the sword basics. But now, it’s time for drills with this thing. Give me your practice sword, and go ahead and equip this.”_

_“O-Okay.”_

_\- Day 19 -_

_Father stared into the open sky.  
_ _It was clear, warm, and gentle. The afternoon breeze was, too.  
_ _He took in a few deep breaths. I was sitting down next to him, letting my hair trail behind the wind, not really caring if some of it got in my eyes._

 _Our mood today was...different.  
_ _And not different like how it was when all of this started, no, different from even_ **_that_ ** _.  
_ _Hell, it was different from even before I had tried to set out into Hyrule the first time._

 _My Father...his expression was many things today, looking up at the sky.  
_ _Pride, regret, love, longing, listlessness, nostalgia, mournful, happy, and not so happy.  
_ _He looked like he was recalling his old self. Seeing the days he spent apart of the most action._

_He looked like his memories of being a soldier were all coming back to him, and then leaving him once he probably began to think of me. It was like his life was apart of the breeze, too.  
_ _Father was many things, and yet...wasn’t much at all.  
_ _He was a soldier at one point. He was a shoulder to cry on. He was a warrior, He was a dad._

 _He was a lifeline. He was_ **_my_ ** _sunshine. Just like I was his.  
_ _His expression was something else, though...it was one of knowing.  
_ _He knew. He knew that our time together was about to be over._

 _He knew what his little girl would have to do next. Go out...well, go_ **_back_ ** _out into the world, and be a woman. A big girl.  
_ _But this time, she was more than just an errand girl. She had a lot on her plate.  
_ _The entities of old legends...the divine, they wanted a little piece of her._

 _A piece she shouldn’t have ever had to sacrifice, but one that she agreed to.  
_ _She shouldn’t have ever seen death, but she did.  
_ _The Hero of Time and all of the other old stories were vaguely taught to her during her upbringing, and sometimes only when she’d ask._

 _None of this was meant to be apart of her life at all.  
_ _She was an Octoball player.  
_ _She was a normal girl with a fierce mop of crimson hair. She was sunshine._

 _That’s all Father ever wanted from me. He’s told me that plenty of times.  
_ _He just wanted me to do the right thing, and chase my dreams.  
_ _I never wanted much, either. I just wanted to be the best at Octoball._

_But I guess that would have to wait a while.  
_ _That crepe of death? I was still in it.  
_ _I still had a job to do._

 _I still had them on my mind.  
_ _Deku Tree, Fi, Link…  
_ _The Bringer of Darkness...and that other girl._

 _I was apart of something much bigger now.  
_ _If only for a short while? I wasn’t sure. I mean, I just had to give word, and take a sword into a forest, I guess.  
_ _Maybe I was overthinking all this. I didn’t know._

 _But I knew one thing.  
_ _I knew that I saw Father. And his expression was yet another thing…  
_ _Worried. But not necessarily worried about me. He was worried about_ **_us._ **

_“Huh...I ain’t got much left to teach ya.”_

_I snap from my trance, looking up toward him. The Hylian Shield’s gleam under the sun would have gotten into my eyes had it not been for my mop of red protecting them, by order of the brisk wind._

_“O-Oh. Really? I thought we’d be…” I sigh. Knowing exactly how the both of us feel. “...doin’ this for a while.”_

_“Heh. Nope. Basic trainin’ wasn’t much longer than this for me, ya know. In fact, you got some of the tricks down way faster than I ever did. I’m a little envious, honey. You go strolling into Castle Town asking to join the ranks and you’ll probably end up gettin’ way farther than me. I mean that.”_

_I look down at my hands. They smell like leather, like metal, like dirt. “...Yea? Eh, I dunno. I don’t think I’d ever do that. I just wanna stay safe out there...besides,” I wince a little. I remembered it all again. I remembered what happened to me a month ago...What happened to_ **_him._ ** _“I remember that man...The Bringer of Darkness, he said something about going to Hyrule Castle. I don’t think I wanna go there now anyway.”_

_Father balls his fist. “...Agreed. Whoever that ‘Bringer of Darkness’ is, you stay out of his way, Linkle. I mean that, too. I don’t want you bein’ any more apart of this mythical nonsense than you have to be. Can ya promise me that?”_

_I answer him, a little hesitantly, but confidently enough. “Y-Yeah. Yes, I promise, Father. I-I’m not the Hero of Time...He’s gone now. Hyrule needs to know they’re in danger, so I might cross paths with him anyway...I hope I don’t.”_

_He sighs after grunting. “...Me too.”_

_I push myself up on my hands, wanting to change the subject. “Hey, do you have anything else you want me to learn? My stuff is all packed for tomorrow, so we have the rest of the day to practice up.”_

_He looks a bit confused at first, but then he snaps his head up, seeming like he remembered something. “Huh...Oh! Yeah. I got somethin’ for ya. Call it a treat, kid. This technique is only given to officers of my rank and above, so think of this like our special little exchange, ‘kay?”_

_“W-Whoa! Am I going to learn to do magic?!”_

_He chuckles. “Heh. Can’t do_ **_that_ ** _. You need the Great Fairy’s blessin’ for all that. But what I_ **_can_ ** _teach ya...Is the Spin-Attack. It may sound simple, but it was actually the toughest thing for me to nail down back when I was climbin’ the ranks.”_

_My eyes widen. “Wow...A-Alright! Let’s do it, Father. Teach me the Spin-Attack.”_

_\- Day 20. Final day. -_

  
  


_I checked all around my new horse, making sure I had packed absolutely everything for the journey.  
_ _I...Suffice to say, I wasn’t comin’ back for a while.  
_ _I shook the water out of my eyes. I couldn’t let myself break down. Not when I was so close._ **_Be strong._ **

_I heard him from behind me. The footsteps of the man I failed once, and didn’t want to fail again.  
_ _I thought about all the past month all in one wipe. It’s been sort of a while since I saw the Hero of Time get defeated, but it’s still so vivid.  
_ _Death just isn’t something ya just forget._

_“Hey. Got everything?”_

_“I-I think so. Yeah...I think I’ll be ready to leave.”_

_He laughs. It’s hearty. It’s bold. It’s just like Father from a month ago.  
_ _A month before all of this.  
_ _A month before his little girl would be taken from him._

_“Wrong. You forgot these. Guess you’ve still got some airhead in ya, huh?”_

_He removes the set harnessed at his back. I immediately recognized the Hylian Shield.  
_ _The sword he presented, however, was new.  
_ _He removed something else, as well. It was a hefty bag of Rupees._

_“Take off that practice sword, dummy. You’re gonna be out in the field, now. You need a proper broadsword. And this one? I got it refolded and polished, just for you. Just for my girl.” He sighed through his words, sounding a little sad. “...I only hope that you don’t actually have to use it.”_

_I take off the practice sword, grabbing the three items he was giving to me and replacing the practice sword with those.  
_ _I felt one thing first, and that was_ **_much_ ** _heavier.  
_ _I felt another thing after that, I felt emotional._ **_Extremely_ ** _emotional._

_“H-Hey. Father? Isn’t this your savings?”_

_“Only about half. I still got my rainy day money, don’t you worry. I wanted to give you all of it...but I knew if I tried to, you’d just beat me up. That woulda been fine and dandy a month ago, sure, but now I’ve actually gone and made ya a fighter. My knee’s wouldn’t last thirty seconds against your speedy little self.”_

_We both shared hearty, bold, sentimental laughs. I pat his shoulder playfully, and he did the same to me.  
_ _And before I knew it, he was hugging me. He was holding me tightly, like he was hoping for some miracle.  
_ _I, of course, did the same, and_ **_hoped_ ** _the same. But I knew...we both knew._

 _That wouldn’t happen.  
_ _Those old legends wanted me in the footnotes, whether either of us liked it or not.  
_ _Link, and Fi, and Deku Tree still needed my help. Whether I liked it or not._

_“You get out there and do what that old fart of a tree asked you to do, and then you come running back home, alright?”_

_I choke a bit, trying to shake tears away again as I pulled Father closer. “Y-Yeah...I will, Father, I mean it.”_

_Minutes later…_

_“I’m all set. For real this time.”_

_The watchman at the gate replied to me promptly. “Alright. I ain’t got no clue why all’uv a sudden you’re leaving with weapons, but...be careful, ya hear? No gettin’ lost again now, ‘kay?”_

_“I won’t.” I said, narrowing my eyes toward the horizon._

_I won’t fail you this time, Father.  
_ _I won’t fail you, Link.  
_ _Fi, or Deku Tree._

_If I’m gonna be a footnote to an old legend, I’m gonna do it the right way._

Once again, the scene from a month ago played out.  
 _I was making it to just past the archway again.  
_ When...I heard him. I heard him repeat those words. The words from the day my life flip-flopped on me.

_“Make me proud, sweetheart.”_


	5. Footnote

Deja vu.  
That was...all I could describe it as.   
Actually, it wasn’t, I was selling myself short on that - and I knew it…

I was back again. The sprawling meadows, far and wide...The rolling clouds, of all different shapes. The morning dew, the smells, the puddles...All of it was back. And for as numb as I at least  _ thought _ I was to it, the  _ memories _ of that day were back again, too. The blood leaking from his skull, sullying his beautiful pink hair, and forest green cap. I hated that my hair looked like blood, just as much as it looked like an apple. Apples were sweet. Apples were crimson. Blood...it was disgusting. But blood was  _ also _ crimson. 

As I remembered his look of courage, determination, but not exactly dependability, staying glued dead on his face as  _ everything _ got taken from him, a small part of me...it wished that my connection to him could have been sweeter. Sweeter than what it was. 

_ I don’t even know why.  
_ _ He spoke no words to me.  
_ _ He didn’t even look in my direction. He just kept trying to fight. _

_ I had something to remember him by, in his Hylian Shield.  
_ _ I gave him nothing for that...Nothing in return.  
_ _ I couldn’t. Even though I wanted to give him something. Anything. _

_ He was dead.  
_ _ I was alive.  
_ _ And even though it’s been a month...Hyrule field is just - bloody to me now. It’s not sweet anymore. _

  
  


As my new mount, bold and brown, like my eyes, trotted along the main path and into the neck of the meadow, another thing ate at me. I was back in Hyrule Field, and just like last time, not exactly busiless.

“...Right. I-I have to find it...I have to see if it’s even still here.” 

Just like before, I had a mission.  
I had expectations to fulfil.  
Promises to keep. _People_ _to make proud._

Only this time, it wasn’t just an errand.  
I was no longer an errand girl. I was no longer someone trying to prove that I could be  _ trusted on my own.  
_ _ I was being forced to trust  _ **_myself, on my own._ ** _ I had more than just errands now, I had duties. _

_ I wasn’t the Hero of Time.  
_ _ But I was apart of all of this otherworldly, cyclic affair.  
_ _ I didn’t have godly weapons, or spirits guiding me. I wasn’t in any legends - I wasn’t prophesied. _

_ I’m just a girl. At least...until a month ago I was.  
_ _ I  _ **_was_ ** _ just a girl. Just someone trying to pursue her dream.  
_ _ Now, well...I still was no hero. I still was no legend. But...I was in there. Had to be, right?  _

_ If Deku Tree, and Fi, if they trusted me in all this…  
_ _ I had to be  _ **_somewhere_ ** _ in whatever that nonsense was.   
_ _ But, I knew if I was there...I wasn’t anything except a footnote at the end. _

_ That’s right.  
_ _ I’m just a footnote.  
_ _ A footnote to an old, divine legend, that can’t be bothered to stop repeating itself. _

The puddle where my last horse drank from, it was all dried up...but, once I got there, I knew where I was. I had a few indicators...you know, besides  _ my stomach turning inside out. _ There were the shrubs around the plains of grass, both cut short by the large bed of rocks that was once completely wet. All of it was in the same place as last time. Of course, none of that was to mention the large rock I had smashed into when that…

_ “That...bitch…”  _ Punted me. I still feel the soreness in my chest from  _ that. _ Even if it was just imaginary at this point.

But, and of course, again,  _ none of  _ **_that_ ** _ was to mention the very obvious, very pertinent, and very  _ **_present_ ** _ indicator that this was, in fact, the place where all of this horror began. No, this one, very literally, stuck out of the bed of rocks like a sore thumb. It honestly almost looked like a gravepost where it was, considering how it got there. _

_ It was on a slight lean, tempted to fall straight over onto the rock bed. Just like it’s ‘Master’ spilled out onto the grass, in my arms, heaving his dying breath. Looking at what was clearly the Master Sword, blade just as pristine, and silver - hilt just as bright and blue, and gem, while it’s luster was faint, still glowing, I had felt - for whatever reason, that maybe Link and that sword were one and the same. Maybe Fi, and Link, were one and the same. Maybe they were friends.  _

_ Did Fi enjoy his company? Did Fi love him? Did Link want to fight alongside her?  _

_ I guess I’d never know. Fi wouldn’t tell me, and for as monotone as she could sound any other time, when I asked her  _ **_that_ ** _ , she suddenly sprang right to life, as if my asking had jabbed her in her own heart. _

_ What’s more, I’d never see Fi again, according to her words. So those questions, while I had them, were empty to me. I only asked myself to fill the space in my head with something other than blood, and clashing blades. And  _ **_fighting_ ** _. People should be connected...They shouldn’t need to fight so harshly. _

_ I stood. Almost still enough to freak myself out.  
_ _ I just looked at it for a while.  _

_ I couldn’t seem to place why I had felt so strongly connected to...well, everything that happened that day, a month ago. Even though I knew all of it was just happenstance. The dice rolling completely out of favor, for Link, and for Linkle. _

_ As my eyes scanned up and down the blade, soaking in it’s double-edges, and all of its fashions,  
_ _ I had placed my hand, gently, over my own neck.  
_ _ As I got closer to it, knowing what I needed to do...I felt it. _

_ Not blood.  
_ _ Not sweetness.  
_ _ But  _ **_darkness_ ** _. _

_ I remembered The Bringer of Darkness.   
_ _ That vile man, who had robbed someone courageous.  
_ _ That man, in the black armor, who had, or at least was in the process of robbing Hyrule for all that it was. _

_ As I got right in front of the blade, standing right over it.  
_ _ I remembered the promise. I remembered that I had a place in all of this.  
_ _ But, I was also worried...that if I picked up that sword, he would find me. _

_ He would find me.  
_ _ He wouldn’t care who I was. He wouldn’t care about my life, or my dreams.  
_ _ He would still find me, and do just the same.  _

_ Rip everything away from me.   
_ _ Choke the life out of me.   
_ _ And then go on his way, like I was dispensable. Like I wasn’t a life.  _

_ For as afraid as  _ **_that_ ** _ voice in my head was.  
_ _ For as loud as it was…  
_ _ There was another voice, just as loud, that I’d been hearing just as frequently. _

**_Be strong.  
_ ** _ That feeling welled up in me again.  
_ _ As I once again remembered what I told Fi and Deku Tree. _

_ I sighed, heavily, wrapping my hands around the aqua blue hilt.  
_ _ It felt...dirty. It felt like this didn’t belong to me at all.  
_ _ But I still had to. I still had a duty - even if it was a footnotes duty. _

_ “U-Ugh...This sucks. B-But -” I sighed again, trying to make this easier for myself. “It’ll be fine. It’ll be easy - just take a sword to a forest and give it to some tree. I can do it.” _

_ I took my hands off of the hilt a spell, patting my cheeks to psyche myself into this.  
_ _ Once I felt ready, I took up the hilt again, barely thinking about anything.  
_ _ I just had to do it. I had to do this. _

_ “N-Ngh…!!” But it didn’t give. It didn’t do anything. “H-Huh?” _

_ The blade wouldn’t come out, or respond to me. _

_ “W-What? Why?” This wasn’t making any sense. _

_ I don’t get it.  
_ _ What the hell was all that in the Sacred Realm for, then? _ _   
  
_

_ I yanked some more. “N-Ngh!! Come  _ **_on!_ ** _ ” But eventually, I tired myself out, falling square on my bottom. _

_ What was the point of putting me through that?  
_ _ Why would you call me? Why would you ask me to help you?  
_ _ Why would you take it upon yourself to get a random girl involved in your bullshit if you were just going to reject me? _

_ “Huh? ...F-Fi?” I stood up again, grabbing the hilt once more. “U-Urgh!! What’s with you?! What’s your problem, huh? Why go through all the trouble of taking me to your stupid, manic dreamscape if you’re just gonna shove me off?!” _

_ No response.  
_ _ I guess she did say I’d never get to talk to her again.  
_ _ But if she was going to be like this, well… _

_ “What the hell am I supposed to do?” I pulled at the Master Sword again. “ _ **_You’re_ ** _ the one that asked  _ **_me_ ** _ for help. I don’t get why you seem to have changed your mind all of a sudden now, but I’m here! So what if it took a while - you expect me to be quick about this? When I couldn’t even fight a month ago??” _

_ I felt like I was screaming at myself.  
_ _ The faint, aqua glow of that gem was taunting me.  
_ _ And honestly? Pissing me right the hell off, too. _

_ “You know what? No. I’m  _ **_not_ ** _ doing this with you.” I began to pull, with all of my might, breathing almost as heavily as I did training with Father. “Screw you. Screw you.  _ **_Screw…”_ **

_ The blue gem, almost as if it were biting back at me, began to flash.  
_ _ It was once, and then a few more times, as I kept pulling.  
_ _ Something...was happening. And - it felt both good and bad. _

_ I pulled even harder.  
_ _ The gem, it flashed even more. Like Fi had finally decided to start giving a damn.  
_ _ But...I noticed something wasn’t quite right. _

_ “N-ngh...what’s...going…” It felt like...my strength was being sapped. _

__

_ It felt like, with each flash of that gem, my life was being drained from me.  
_ _ I started to get scared. Fi - what did she think she was doing?  
_ _ First rejection, and now she’s trying to kill me? _

_ What’s worse, I started to feel like I was being bound to the sword...Like I  _ **_couldn’t_ ** _ let go. _ _   
_ _   
_ _ “A-Agh...Ow!! S-Stop! W-What..What do you think you’re doing?!”  _

_ The gem began to flash much faster, the blinking became express.  
_ _ I felt horrified. I couldn’t let go. I started panicking out of my mind.  
_ _ The gem began to gleam brighter the more it blinked. The light started to blind me. _

_ “Fi! Are you  _ **_in there at all?! Stop this, please!_ ** _ ”  _

_ I grew more afraid as the seconds went by.  
_ _ It felt like all my muscles were deflating.  
_ _ It felt like my heart was about to burst. _

_ It didn’t make any sense.  
_ _ None of it did.  
_ _ Why did she ask me for anything? _

_ W-Why… _

_ “ugh…” I fell onto one knee, panting and moaning horribly. I felt like I’d vomit. I didn’t know what else to do, and so I begged. I begged for a sign. “...fi...please...it’s me…stop…” _

_ My hands began trembling.  
_ _ My vision became blurry.   
_ _ My breathing became much more than unsteady. _

_ The gem inside of the Master Sword’s hilt was still blinking.  
_ _ And now, I was blinking too. Trying to stay awake, that is.  
_ _ Trying to stay  _ **_alive._ **

_ “...i’m here...t-to help you...i promised you...I-” _

_ I couldn’t keep my head up straight anymore.   
_ _ I leaned it right onto the face of the blade. Barely conscious.  
_ _ Breathing was nearly impossible. My head felt so light I was worried I’d start floating. _

_ “...it’s...me…” I tried one last time. Knowing that if I failed to reach her again, I wouldn’t get another chance. “...it’s….l-linkle…”  _

_ Closing my eyes, I waited for my answer.  
_ _ I waited to see if Fi would recognize me.  
_ _ I waited to know if all of this would be for nothing. _

_ With my eyes shut, and consciousness fading, fast.  
_ _ I had no choice but to wait for Fi’s answer.  
_ _ I had no choice but to wonder if I’d be able to see anything but darkness ever again after this. _

_ “...” My head pounded onto rock. I felt something give. I couldn’t see what it was. I couldn’t hear anything. I didn’t know if I had succeeded or failed, because I couldn’t open my eyes. _

_   
_ _   
_ _ \- Hours later - _

  
  


_ “N-Ngh…”  _ I finally began to feel sensations again. The first one was cold. The coldness of the rock bed I was lying in. The second was  _ overwhelming _ heat. I felt like I was on fire. My heart began to  _ pound. _ The third sensation was exhaustion...I felt sapped. I felt dead. But just as quickly, I felt the fourth sensation...Life. I felt my strength returning. My eyes opened again. The blackness and haze left me slowly. My head began to feel heavy. My vision became clear.

My horse, undoubtedly concerned, was at my lying body, nudging me to my feet. Had it been doing this the whole time? 

“H-Huh…?” I rolled over, and there she was, fully in view. Her brown mane covered up the sun, which looked much further away from us than it did just a moment ago when I…

“ _ Fi! The Master Sword - where is it?!”  _ My horse had stepped away from me as I flung my body up off of the bed of rocks. I pushed myself to my feet, hands shaky and unsure. And when I finally stood completely up, brushing myself off - I felt swelling in some places. Swelling, and soreness. And it was way worse than some of the stuff I’d been through with Father.

I couldn’t focus on that, though.  
Because, The Master Sword…  
_ It was gone. _

My eyes darted all over, trying to figure out what the hell had happened to it. And what had happened to _me._   
Eventually, my eyes found the sun again. It was definitely... _much_ further away than when I had first set off.  
I...I guess I was out for a while.

“Dammit…” I held my tightened fists harder, powering through the soreness. My frustration was bubbling to a rolling boil. I didn’t understand any of this shit anymore.

It was then, that I heard a sound. It was like a sharp chime.  
I thought it was in my head at first, but after focusing harder, I knew it wasn’t.  
The chime became coupled, next, by vibrations inside of my hand.

“...??” I held up my fist, uncurling it. What popped out nearly fell into the bed of rocks. I almost didn’t react fast enough to catch it up with my other hand.

It was...blue. Aqua blue.  
It’s glow was faint.  
Its shape was a diamond. Pointy enough to stab into my hand if I really tried.

I was bewildered.  
I knew what this  _ had _ to be, of course.  
But that’s  _ why _ it didn’t make any sense.

“This was...this was inside of the Master Sword.”

But the sword itself was nowhere to be found.  
All I had was the gem.  
And what’s more, it started to flash again.

I got afraid, and almost chucked the thing, thinking it would try one more time to sap my life.  
But...it didn’t.  
The blinking light stopped just as quickly as it had started.

The flashes of light left the object, taking the  _ color with it.  
_ All of the luster.  
The aqua blue...It was gone.

The gem was grey.  
It looked like one of the multitude of grey rocks in the bed beneath me.  
I tried shaking it, and putting it up to the sun...but nothing happened.

The gems' luster was completely gone.  
And I knew, at that point, that speaking to it would be useless.  
If Fi  _ was  _ still in there, I  _ definitely  _ wasn’t getting an answer from her.

And so, with no sword in sight, all I could do was keep the gem. I couldn’t speak to it, I couldn’t make it glow again. I couldn’t do anything with it except pocket it. So, into my pouch it went.

I was sure it wasn’t going to hurt me, at least not like that. “...Guess I’ll just need to ask Deku Tree about this…”

But of course.  
_ That _ wasn’t going to be easy, either.  
Deku Tree hadn’t told me where Korok Forest was.

I just...well, I had to trust in those words he told me a month ago…

  
  


_ ‘In due time, you will find your way back here, of your own accord.’  _

  
  


I was pretty sick of mysteries by this point.

I wish I could get a straight answer, from  _ anyone _ other than Father.

If this is what being the footnote of an old, tenacious legend was going to be like the entire time,

I already hated it.


	6. Pointed Toward Something

_“Okay...We should be at least over halfway, at this point, across the northwestern stretch of Hyrule Field.” I eye’d my map down intently. “Huh...says here this is ‘Larulyru Province.’ Who knew they’d divy’d Hyrule up into ‘Provinces.”_

_I took one more glance at my map as my horse gently cruised me along the northwest path. “Hmm, ‘s’that means Hyrule Field itself is separated across the regions, too?”_

_Even though my horse wasn’t being spoken to, she gave a snort, while shaking her head, as if responding to my question. I couldn’t resist leaning to pet her for wanting to invest herself emotionally in my journey. Helped me feel a little better, too. I was still frustrated as all hell from earlier, and honestly, kind of everything the past month. But my focus, right that second, couldn’t be on what became of the Master Sword, and why I got to keep the crystal with, what I assumed to be, Fi inside of it. I lost a lot of time from being unconscious. I lost a lot of_ **_patience_ ** _from being unconscious,_ **_again_ ** _. And I still had everything on my plate as before._

_This was a nightmare. I honestly left Yown, while saddened, with a smile on my face. I was just pissed now. I think it finally hit me, just what I was in for._

_To add insult to injury, physical_ **_and_ ** _psychological injury, I...really didn’t have a direction, at all._

 _Deku Tree trusted me to find his home all by myself. Fi gave me no information on Hyrule, or how to traverse its many, many different divisions. And Father couldn’t help much, either. Not aside from his map. Which_ **_didn’t_ ** _have Korok Forest on it. This was a nightmare, not a ‘legend.’ And I was pissed, not smiling._

_My horse moaned, snapping me out of my frustration. I really started to wonder if she could sense these sorts of things. Giving a few extra quiet noises, and shaking her head again, she caused me to suddenly think about her a little closer._

_“Oh. Aww ~ It’s not quite fair if I don’t call you something, is it girl?” I purred, stroking her mane as a gentle breeze picked up. She gave another moan and a snort, which I took for affirmation, along with her lean into my pets._

_“Oh, alright then.” I bent a finger to my chin. I hadn’t needed to give much stuff names all that much before, but I was sure I could do it. And sure enough, a few beats across the field later, I did come up with something. “Hmm...Macie? How’dya feel about that, girl?”_

_In response, she shuffled her head about in my hand, rocking it back forth._

“Sounds good. Alright Macie, let’s try and make this journey together...as good as it can be.” 

  
  


Time passes, and we continue on in relative silence.  
The gentle breeze acting as the calm hymn to each of Macie’s soft clops along the stone walk, and sometimes crunching grass.  
I was more than aimless.

And her responsibility was just to take me wherever I wanted to go.  
I guess...I _had_ gotten the freedom I so deeply wished for.

But I also guess I just never thought _freedom_ would feel so...carceral.   
I always thought getting the right to leave home would be more cheerful.  
 _'Sweetheart, you’ve earned this. You’ve done a great job. Go be the Octoball champ you always dreamed o’ bein.’_ Father’s hearty voice rang in my head like a gong. I could hear it perfectly.

 _That’s_ what I wanted.  
But, of course, instead I’m _stuck_ with freedom. It’s been _forced_ upon me.  
 _'Warn the citizens of Hyrule.’_ Urged the robotic blue Sword Spirit. _‘Return The Blade of Evil’s Bane.’_ Begged the old, wise Deku Tree.

Fine. _I guess...  
_ Have it your way.   
And don’t bother giving me shit in return for it. 

You’ll never erase from _my_ mind _everything_ that got me into _your_ mess.  
Neither of you.  
And I _don’t_ want you to. 

Besides…  
I…  
Specifically _you_ , Link. You haven’t left my head since that day.

It’s not like I ever really cared deeply about you, or _could_ …  
But I wanted to _know_ something. About you.  
I wanted to know...why?

“If you’re supposed to be some... _legend...Some grand ‘Hero of Time’, with the_ **_only_ ** _sword that could beat those vile people...how come you lost?_ ”

I’m not blaming you. Really. At least...I hope it doesn’t sound like I am. I mean you don’t even know me, what right do I have to pester you like this? I don’t mean ill when I ask _‘why.’_ I’m just wondering.

I’m wondering if anybody cared about you.  
 _I’m_ expected to get word across Hyrule that you’ve fallen.  
Which didn’t make any sense to me.

Why were there no soldiers backing you up that day?  
How come, in an entire month, it doesn’t feel like your death has shaken anybody _already?  
_ I didn’t even see any of your belongings at the Master Sword...It’s like you weren’t there at all.

If you’re the Hero of Time, then what’s the holdup?  
I’d thought lots of people would have been in your corner, hoping for your success.  
I guess I wouldn’t know, truly. And it ain’t like you’re telling me.

The Master Sword’s a waste.  
At least, in my hands it is.  
Feels like a waste to tell anyone what’s going on, too…Now that I think about it.

Where’s _anybody_ gonna go?  
Everyone’ll just be scared when they find out.  
Would anyone even trust me? All I have to show for my words is some grey rock that used to be a sword. Not very convincing if you ask me.

Fi, were you scared?  
How could you have possibly thought a _warning_ would fix anything?  
You should have fought harder. Maybe none of this would have happened if you tried during that battle.

The Bringer of Darkness had a Sword Spirit, too.  
She was able to fight.  
What was stopping _you?_ Why did you let that man choke the life from your partner?

I’m half tempted to find a river and skip you across it, now that _that’s_ on my mind.  
You...you could have stopped him.  
Or at least gave it a shot.

What makes you think you’ve got the right to get all powered up again for the next Hero, cozy in some stupid forest? You’ll be inside a nice and shiny pedestal, while your little _former_ Hero can’t even get a memoria for how hard he fought for _all of us_ . How cruel. _How cruel of you._

Hate me all you want, but I don’t buy it.  
I don’t buy any of this.  
And the more I think about it...The more I worry that all of you just…

“...Just stood around, and-”

  
  


Screaming. An explosion. A crash.

From over the neck of the stone walk, I heard a disturbance in the calm so loud it shook everything inside of me. Whatever I was thinking about fell apart like a vase on a shelf during an earthquake.

My blood ran cold as I scanned my environment. I didn’t want a repeat of last time, _at all.  
_ If the Bringer of Darkness had come back...That meant I had to run. _And fast.  
_ I was involved in all of this, no doubt, but only as far as Korok Forest. _Nothing in the fine print said I needed to dance with a devil._

That’s what I wanted to do.  
But I couldn’t. I heard screams earlier…  
Screaming meant that people were in danger.

The Hero of Time...he didn’t scream.   
But he still died. I still stood by and _watched_ it.  
I...Something in me…

“M-Macie...We…” Half tempted to say _run_ , I strengthened my voice, trying my best to carry my spirit through each breath it took me to curveball myself. _“We need to go see what that was.”_

I couldn’t handle it.  
Not the thought of that happening again in front of me.  
Especially now, when I could fight.

If it was...If it was _him,_ I’d have to run. Father told me that. He made me promise.  
But...if I _were he,_ I would fight anyway, right? That’s what the Hero did, for all of Hyrule.   
He gave his life with all of the determination in the world across his face.

He didn’t want to see people die.  
I don’t think he wanted anybody to see him die, either.  
I certainly didn’t. I certainly didn’t want to witness it happen to anyone else, moreso.

**_Be strong,_ ** _I told myself, as Macie’s soft clop became a gallop. We sped across the neck of the stone walk, into some more grassy plain, and back to another segment of road._

_There wasn’t another explosion for a while, but I could hear running, and firing. It was faint, but it was getting closer. I was right up into the deep of the conflict after passing a hedge next to a signpost that ringed around two large rocks, fashioned in some weird shape that I didn’t care to pay attention to right at that moment._

_Another explosion, this time I saw it trail behind a panicked man running for his life. The explosive was a dark, midnight blue, round, and was tied inside of a small satchel it looked like, all connected to a thin piece of wood._

_Father had told me during training about some of the different weapons Hylian Soldiers would be practiced in. So, all in seeing the split second of near death in front of me - I had quickly discerned that what smashed up against the boulder shielding the panicking man from demise, it’s facing half shattering into pebbled scrap along the ground, was a Bomb Arrow._

_The man in tow of himself had been launched a short distance into the air, falling on his face. He wasn’t struck by the explosive itself, though. And I moaned in relief once I had seen he was okay. I don’t think I’d be able to handle what a...mess something so horrid like that would present itself as along the beautiful stone road I was now galloping across. I’d seen enough blood, and death._

_The man struggled to pick himself up, which worried the hell out of me. I arrived at the scene as he tried to lift himself, and failed. I couldn’t see what was hunting him down. But I knew I was going to, and soon._

_Another explosion. Another terrifying crash.  
_ _The sound was so loud it blew my eardrums.  
_ _It was so close, I felt the heat of the bomb._

 _I was the one flying through the air now.  
_ _And the rock I found myself behind, luckily, in that moment, was also having it’s facing half blown into pebbled scrap.  
_ _Separated from Macie in an instant, my body slammed onto the stone beneath it._

 _My ears were ringing like hell.  
_ _I was reeling. My only comfort was in that I was alive. Luckily.  
_ _My blurred vision snapped into focus immediately, I clawed for my bearings as I realized the mess of a situation that was transpiring._

_“H-Huh…?! N-No! No, Macie--!!”_

_She was panicking, preparing to gun it away from everything.  
_ _I couldn’t blame her.  
_ _But also, I_ **_needed_ ** _her. I could_ **_not_ ** _lose her if I wanted any hope of getting across Hyrule._

_I sprang to my feet, ignoring the pain. I pounced on her saddle, trying desperately to reclaim her._

_“Please, Macie! Please -- You’ve got to calm down! Listen to me! Li-_ **_Argh!!_ ** _”_

_Macie answered my call with a sharp kick of her hind legs, shoving me off effortlessly.  
_ _And I was back to being on the ground, reeling.  
_ _Man, did I find myself_ **_here_ ** _a lot._

 _I shifted my body onto my front, forcing myself to move.  
_ _Macie, by that point, had already started sprinting off. Didn’t see her, but I heard her.  
_ _It was a lost cause, completely. The travel supplies, food, and weathering garments I kept securely on her were done for. Left to her devices._

 _I could only hope she wouldn’t run herself into worse danger.  
_ _And I still couldn’t see the threat. I couldn’t see what was attacking me, or that man.  
_ _So, of course I couldn’t cry about Macie, either._

_I pounded the ground. The only show of raw emotion I had time to give._

**_“God -- Dammit!!”_ **

_After my little physical outburst, I sprang back to my feet, still verbally anguishing. “I am_ **_SICK_ ** _of being knocked over.” But I had another thing to worry about. I rushed over to the man that still struggled to get to his feet._

_By his side now, I desperately tried to reach him. I couldn’t tell what he looked like, as his eyes were covered by his brunette bangs. His condition seemed stable, but I wouldn’t know for sure until I got a good look at him._

_“Hey! H-Hey! You alright?? Please -- Speak if you can!” I darted my head around us, trying to piece the attacker, while waiting for his answer._

_“O-Oh..I-_ **_agh!_ ** _”_

_“Wait!” In my scan of the surroundings, I found a form. It was dark blue, with huge ears and a rounded, oddly-shaped head. It was walking in the direction opposite to us, it seemed. That was all I got before I decided to drag the man behind the large rock next to us, into cover._

_I placed him upright against the stone. I had guessed a little too forcefully, because he winced in pain when I did. His eyes shut, but quickly opened a second later to meet me. His gaze had an air of respectability, and coolness. It was laced with fear, I could tell that much, but he definitely tried a little harder to keep his poker face intact upon the realization of who’d swooped in for him._

_“H-Hey -- Sorry… U-Um you okay? Were you hurt?”_

_Catching his breath and shaking his head, he finally gave a more solid look at me. His eyes were black, and surprisingly calm. His voice was also smooth as he gave me my long awaited answer. A little too smooth._

_“...Have the Angel’s come already?”_

_For as angry as I was, at everything, that threw me off a bit. I giggled through a heavy, stammered exhale. “...Not quite.”_

_He laughed at that one. “Good on me then. What’s a lassie like you doin’ out here armed to the teeth? What’s the occasion?”_

_“...It’s more than ‘special’, that’s for sure. C-Can you stand?” I asked, trying to get him on his feet. He seemed to be able to gather his bearings alright enough to heed me._

_“Seems like it. Thank you.”_

_After helping him to his feet, I went back to being wary of our surroundings. I peeked out from behind the boulder we used for cover, and sure enough whatever that_ **_thing_ ** _was, it was still there. Only a short distance away._

 _Trying to get a better look at the peculiar looking creature brandishing the silver bow, I peeked out further, but, as per Father’s teachings, not_ **_too_ ** _far._

_It’s hands were a little big, same as the feet.  
_ _It had a harness for the bow, and a quiver of arrows, as to be expected.  
_ _But what was_ **_more_ ** _prominent to me was it’s...I wasn’t even sure enough to call it a ‘head.’_

 _Whatever it was...It was shaped rounded, yet crude, and certainly pig-like.  
_ _It was grossing me out trying to ascertain its features.  
_ _From the huge nose, to the wide mouth, to the long ears. Had claws, too._

_“Hey--”_

_“H-Huh?!” I jerked my body back behind cover as the man broke my trance. “O-Oh! I’m sorry, I forgot to ask, can you move okay? Do you need me to escort you anywhere?”_

_Dusting himself off, he answered calmly. “I think I’ll be alright. I’d not like to trouble you. By the way, you’ve got a name, don’t you? Give it.”_

_“It’s Linkle, sir.”_

_“A fine name. Ripe for a fighter like yourself. It rings a sort of familiarity within me that I can’t quite place.” He wiggled his brows, brushing the stubble on his chin._

_Oh. Of course. “...U-Uh-huh. W-What about you? W-Wait, no, forget it, I still don’t know what_ **_that_ ** _thing is. We’re still in danger. So if you can run, you should get far away from here.”_

_“Worry not, I’ll be out of your hair quite soon. The name’s Frixell, by the way.”_

_Fr...Frixell? Why does that-_ _  
  
_

_“I was on my way back to Kakariko Village...before the run in with that Bokoblin. I’ll be on my way again momentarily.”_

_“F-Frixell...T-That..sounds familiar…”_

_“Maybe you’ve heard of me. I run an apothecary with my brother, Fritz. I was returning from an earlier delivery, but I don’t need an escort.”_

_I glanced behind cover again, assuring that the opponent wasn’t preparing another attack. I quickly returned to Frixell when I saw that it wasn’t._

_“...You sure?”_

_“Positive. But why don’t you stop by sometime, and maybe I could repay for helping me today.”_

_“OK. I-If I remember. Frixell, yeah?”_

_“Yep. Kakariko Village. Do you really mean to fight that Bokoblin, all by yourself?”_

_I gave a solid nod. “I…” taking a deep breathing, I told myself to be strong again. “_ **_I do._ ** _It could hurt people, Frixell. A-And I’m a fighter...I just wouldn’t feel okay if I left it alone.”_

_He...laughed again when I said that, albeit softly. “Youth is a magical thing, huh? You’re quite brave, little Linkle. But remember -- there’s a thin line between bravery and stupidity. Step in mud, and you’re alright. Quicksand, though? Not so much.”_

_“Pfft. You doubt me, but whatever. I saved your life, don’t forget that. Now scram before you get blown to pieces out here.”_

_He gave a quick bow, speaking as smugly as before. “As you command. If you make it out alive, do come and visit me.”_

_“Sure thing, tough guy.” I stuck my tongue out at him, and he gently waved goodbye as he speed-walked, semi-running actually, his way out of the heat of conflict._

  
  


_After making sure he was far enough away to not be in immediate danger, I looked behind cover again, scanning over my opponent, while also steeling myself._

_This was my_ **_first_ ** _battle.  
_ _This was the_ **_real deal._ ** _It wasn’t training anymore.  
_ _It wasn’t the backyard, and I wouldn’t get another shot if I screwed up._

 _This was Hyrule Field.  
_ _That thing...It wasn’t a prop-up, or a scarecrow.  
_ _It was a real, breathing Bokoblin. And it had_ **_Bomb Arrows_ ** _._

 _I turned back around, pressing my back into the stone.  
_ _I took two really big, slow, and deep breaths, repeating the burning cries of my soul.  
_ ** _Be strong._** **_Be strong. Be strong._**

_After I felt centered, I took my hands from my heart, and fashioned them to the weapons on my back. It was time to prove to Father, and to the Hylian Shield, that I could do this._

**_That I was ready._ **

_I unsheathed my broadsword and a burst from behind the cover of the boulder, on the side I confirmed beforehand that the enemy wasn’t facing._

_Just to be sure, however, my exit was done with my Hylian Shield raised.  
_ _A tactic that would, in microseconds, be proven to me as life or death.  
_ _Before I could think, another explosion went off immediately._ **_Right in my face._ **

_My thoughts had already disappeared by that point. My focus was on the battle.  
_ _When that happened, however, I didn’t expect to get them back. Not those nor my sight.  
_ _To my shock, I did._

_“U-Ugh...Huh…?!” Heaving stammered breaths, having barely processed the event, I look up from behind my shield. It was like...magic. “I-I’m okay?! I-I--”_ _  
  
_

_But in just a short matter of time, I was defending myself again.  
_ _The measure this time was movement.  
_ _I noticed it dock another projectile. Not a bomb arrow, thankfully._

 _I forced my mind to remember Father’s teachings.  
_ _When you’re one on one, staring down an archer’s aim, don’t roll right away.  
_ _They’re looking for an opportunity to follow your trail. To catch you on your exit._

 _I wait, prepared to raise my shield at a moment’s notice.  
_ _I noticed the Bokoblin’s posture change. A sign that it wasn’t looking for an escape anymore.  
_ **_Now_ ** _was my time to do so. I shift my body in one direction, only to roll in the opposite._

_My attempt at throwing the enemy off was successful. But I wasn’t out of the woods. No time to be proud. No time to do anything other than figure out a way to get closer._

_You can’t leave the gap against an archer open for too long. They can make space with you as long as they’ve got arrows left in the quiver to fire. I didn’t have a bow or any projectiles to match the Bokoblin, so my only option was to force my way up close, and personal._

_It removes two additional plain arrows from it’s quiver in the time it takes me to get back to my feet from rolling. There was a good second or two of downtime between the both of us. The weight of my gear meant I couldn’t sprint immediately on recovery, and the Bokoblin needed time to dock it’s arrows. On very narrowly the same beat, the action started again._

_I had to try something bold. As bold as Father’s voice reverberating through our quiet village.  
_ _I was on my feet, moving clockwise around my enemy.  
_ _The Bokoblin had it’s bow primed, trying to get in focus a shot._

 _We both were about to do something bold.  
_ _I was nearing my dark blue adversary, knowing that it couldn’t move while trying to shoot two arrows at once, lest it risk it’s balance faltering, and my victory assured.  
_ _It rotated it’s bow, narrowing it’s bulb-like, pitch-black eyes, tugging the projectiles within the string in a certain unorthodox way._

_I couldn’t stop moving. If I did, it’s shot was guaranteed.  
_ _The Bokoblin knew this.  
_ _So it’s strategy changed in an instant to tracking my course. It wanted to bait me._

_Jerking it’s body ahead of mine, it waited a smidge of a moment before one of its fingers let go of the string. The first arrow comes loose, flying toward not my current position, but the position I was_ **_going_ ** _to be in._

**_This is what I expected.  
_ ** _And this is why I had to make the risky play I was anticipating I’d have to.  
_ _My sword trailed behind my body as I ran around it, but after calculating the possibility of everything that was now happening, before it happened, I brought it to my front, raising it in rhythm with my opponents marksmanship._

 _In a moment faster than a photo-finish, I slashed at the air in front of me.  
_ _A hair too early, and I’d be struck anyway.  
_ _A hair too late, and I’d be struck anyway._

 _This needed to be perfect.  
_ _Luckily, I had more than enough experience with hitting fast moving things from out of the air.  
_ _The instincts instilled in me by Father sharpened my mind to a razor’s edge, granting me my new found strategics._

 _But, the instincts born in me as a result of my pride and joy.  
_ _My burning passion for Octoball, that was stripped from me to play ‘divine errand girl?’  
_ _That was what granted me my accuracy in these moments, and as a result, my success._

 _The arrow was knocked away from me by my blade.  
_ _Sent spinning across the patch of grassy plain that was in front of me, landing square into the stone road-walk.  
_ _Another arrow was fired quickly in much the same manner. With the same intent behind it._

**_This_ ** _shot, however, was too far away from my current position.  
_ _The Bokoblin couldn’t keep it’s aim steady enough to pull off a double arrow fire like it had wanted.  
_ _I had around a second or so to take advantage of it’s sloppy attempt on my life._

_And thanks to my training, I didn’t need anybody telling me that, either. After noticing it’s mistake, I jerked my body toward **it’s** position, forcing my knees to pick themselves the hell up. I was in a full sprint now, gunning for my adversary as it anxiously tried for more projectiles. _

_It’s hand whipped back into the quiver as it desperately shook around inside for something to grab, while skipping backwards on its legs to make distance. But I wasn’t letting it run._

_I saw it’s large, pig-like head twitch as it realized the previous mistake would be it’s last, and that I would make sure of it. It’s large hand_ ** _had_** _, in that momentary flare, grasped at something inside of the quiver successfully, but it’s hand quaked in fear. As I dashed toward the Bokoblin, I stared devils into its eyes. Aside from wanting to assure the safety of potential travelers, this was also_ ** _myself versus that thing_** _._ _I couldn’t chance anything. I couldn’t consider mercy._

_After it’s hand quaked, trying to clasp at the arrow, it locked up on the poor thing.  
_ _The arrow fell through its fingers, drooping out of the quiver and onto the dirt beneath us that was our arena.  
_ _That was it. That was your last chance._

 _The Bokoblin Archer realized it had no time left to make any other half-note attempts at stealing it’s momentum from me. It_ **_had_ ** _to escape now.  
_ _And that’s exactly what it_ **_tried_ ** _to do.  
_ _But I couldn’t chance a thing. I couldn’t consider mercy._

 _Raising my broadsword to just above my head, I narrowed my eyes over my opponent.  
_ _You_ **_aren’t_ ** _getting away.  
_ _As it’s feet appeared to stop shaking, it tried harder than ever to get away from me._

 _The body of it’s sprint was very nearly about to pick up.  
_ _It wanted nothing more than to get away now.  
_ _It’s run began. It’s cling to life began._

**_“Y--Yaaa--Aggh!!”_ **

_It’s run ended. It’s cling to life ended.  
_ _I thrusted my body forward, flinging the broadsword from my hands, with all of my weight.  
_ _It flew like a dart toward the enemy, making its mark in no time._

 _The head of the Bokoblin was torn into like a knife through a baked apple.  
_ _The sword pierced through cleanly. Paying zero regard to all the enemy begged it for.  
_ _Amber, viscous fluid spewed out from the disgusting sight as it toppled into the dirt._

_I’ll remember that.  
_ _I’ve never seen blood that color.  
_ _It made me want to vomit. It made me feel dreadful. I felt like a murderer._

_What made the whole thing worse was what I noticed as I approached the ‘bleeding’ mess to retrieve my weapon. It’s mouth was still wide open, it’s tongue spilling out from the side. The very same face it made before I ripped it from this world, without a second thought._

_I guess Father_ **_did_ ** _warn me of this…  
_ _‘Sweetheart. If...If you’ve ever_ **_got_ ** _to use your sword out there...don’t expect to be on top of the world if you win. It’s not easy to explain. Just know...takin’ another life...it’s not gonna feel good.’  
_ _Even though I remember those words clearly...Fresh as the wound in its skull was the wound in my heart._

 _If this is what being a fighter is like.  
_ _I already hated it.  
_ _But…_

_“...Damn. Sun’s going down, isn’t it? U-Uh…” I kept all of it inside of me. All of the tears I wanted to cry, and all of the bile in my stomach I wanted to heave out of me._

_I couldn’t do anything for it.  
_ _It was dead.  
_ _That was a life I stole. Plain and simple._

 _It had tried to steal mine, and Frixell’s, and likely many more if I_ **_didn’t_ ** _do this.  
_ _I had to look it that way, or else I’d just continue to feel awful.  
_ _I..I’d done something good. This thing...It reminded me of the Bringer of Darkness._

 _When I stared into it’s blank, black eyes, I saw his black armor.  
_ _That was reason enough that all of this was okay, right?  
_ _This thing’s evil...I was just doing the right thing…_

_“U-Urgh…” Pulling my sword from out of there was harder than it looked. As I finally got it up through the bones and out of the green-looking flesh within, I noticed the top half of my blade was covered in it’s amber blood._

_I couldn’t handle looking at it.  
_ _Blood reminded me of that day.  
_ _Blood reminded me of everything that was taken from me._

 _Blood reminded me of how long it would be before I could get warm hugs from Father again.  
_ _Blood reminded me of the Hero, who tried so hard. Who nobody noticed was gone.  
_ _Blood reminded me that none of this was over yet. If this was one of the minions of the Bringer of Darkness, then that’s all it was. It was nothing like the real deal._

 _I swiped my sword away from me, spilling its blood all along the dirt, as if I was crudely painting with it for sport.  
_ _I’d have to clean my broadsword properly...a bit later. For now, this would have to do.  
_ _I’ve got...a lot to think about._

_“...No Macie, and it’s getting late. It’s too far to go back home before it gets dark...Dammit! Shit.”_

_I looked back at the corpse one last time, remembering something._

_“...Guess I might as well.”_

_I’d have to clean this properly later, too.  
_ _It smelled awful, but it beats having to buy one.  
_ _Surprisingly enough to me, the bow was in very good condition._

 _I took the bow and harnessed it, along with my broadsword and Hylian Shield.  
_ _But when I went to reach for it’s quiver of arrows, claiming the rest of the spoils.  
_ _...The Bokoblin...went_ **_poof,_ ** _along with the rest of it’s belongings._

_Like a dream.  
_ _Like a fairy tale.  
_ _Like it never existed at all._

_I darted my head around the former arena, anxiously trying to figure out what was happening.  
_ _It’s_ **_blood_ ** _was also gone. I was shocked...It was as if the battle never transpired.  
_ _W-Was it really dead?! If it was -- would it revive??_

 _I…  
_ _The only answer I’d gotten was the wind through my hair.  
_ _And the orange light above me darkening._

 _I still had the bow, at least.  
_ _But, I still_ **_also_ ** _had...no real time to ponder all of the weird things that were happening lately.  
_ _It’s not like I couldn’t_ **_pin_ ** _them on anything. I knew what all of it probably could be related to._

 _I had to let that be reassurance enough for now.  
_ _Reassurance that...I was still sane.  
_ _Because I had to_ **_think._ **

_I was directionless.  
_ _And it was too late now to go back to Yown.  
_ _I had to remember if there was another option…_

  
  


_And then, suddenly--_

_“Frixell!! The apothecary!”_

_Where was it...where was--_

_“..._ **_Oh god. Oh god. Ohgodohgod. I remember Frixell now! A month ago, I was given items by Father to take to him and his brother at...Kakariko Village! Dammit, how could I forget!”_ **

_My head sank, but I’d need to start moving soon. So that didn't last long._

_“...It’s not like I have anything for them now...but -- but still! Kakariko Village...That’s where I should go. Fritz and Frixell...they might forgive me, right? If I explain at least_ **_some_ ** _of this to them? Maybe they’ll even know how I can get a warning across Hyrule in enough time for everyone to try and get away…”_

_Directionless I was, no longer._

_At least, not for a little while._

_The signpost along the stone roadwalk was still intact despite all of the explosions._

_I read one of it’s arrow-shaped signs that pointed dead toward the rest of the northwest stretch._

_It was exactly what I needed. To finally be pointed toward something._

_“_ **_←_ ** _this way to Kakariko Village!”_


End file.
